


Division

by Mazanica



Category: Five Nights at Freddy's
Genre: Borderline civil war rebellions, Discrimination, F/F, Fantasy elements, Gender-ambiguous Mangle, M/M, Other, Totally not an Avatar the Last Airbender ripoff I swear, Toy Freddy is blind, authoritarian/totalitarian government disguised as democracy, pre-relationship/pre-romance slightly-underage sex, teenagers in really dangerous situations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2018-09-23 21:37:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 23,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9679517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mazanica/pseuds/Mazanica
Summary: In a world divided into those who have Powers (Pazons) and those who don’t (Norands), two different rebellions are rising up... but they take completely opposite approaches and innocent people get hurt. One group of highschool students caught in the crossfire is about to learn the ugly truth of the world they live in and that nothing is what it seems.“Tell me- are we really free if what we are predetermines what we can be? Pazon, Norand- that doesn’t define who we are, who we can be or what we can do... just how we can do it.”





	1. Prologue: Thirteen Years Ago

**Author's Note:**

> I motherfuckin’ couldn’t help it, cheesus crust I love this AU so much :( This is the AU that _Cold Escape_ and _Can You Keep a Secret?_ are from.
> 
> Title subject to change because I dunno what to call it.  
> ARE YOU HAPPY NOW JACON, ARE YOU?!
> 
>  **Warnings** : This fic contains segregation/self-segregation/oppression “hidden in plain sight,” discrimination, “favoured” sects of society, authoritarian/totalitarian government disguised as democracy, acts of rebellion against government/borderline civil war, secret societies, fantasy elements, pre-relationship/pre-romance slightly-underage sex, teenagers in really dangerous situations, and everyone’s a victim but also part of the problem. Oh, and gender ambiguous Mangle and totally-blind Toy Freddy. On the bright side, though, there’s no domestic/child/sexual abuse!  
>  **Pairings** : The usual; Bonnie/Blu, Goldie/Spring, Freddy/Alfred, Shafred/Bonsha, and undertones of Chica/Chii, Foxy/Mangle, Mike/Jeremy, Fiona(FTFoxy)/Ferrah(FTFreddy), onesided FNaF3 Guard(Helga)/Dominic Fueller (purple guy), and FRIENDLY/INNOCENT Plushie/Freddles

**_Thirteen Years Ago..._ **

“Mama!”

The lady standing at the counter cracked a smile, her gaze flicking outside the window for a moment. Outside five children were playing, an excited buzz seeming to hang over their heads. Footsteps sounded on the linoleum behind her as a sixth child ran into the kitchen. She knew without looking that it was her own young son.

“Mama!” he called, “look, look! Look!”

“What is it, Bonito?” she asked, turning to look at him.

When she caught sight of him, however, she froze.

There a small blue rabbit kit stood, holding his hands up for her to see what he held. Excitement reflected in his eyes and a large, childish grin lit up his face as he bounced in place, the small flame dancing in his palms oh so innocently.

“Look, Mama, I’m like Spring!” the child declared proudly, happily. “I can make fire too!”

The plate in her hand slipped and crashed to the ground, her vision blurring painfully.

_He has Fire._

When the plate shattered on the floor, the child flinched and the small flame died out. “Mama?” he asked nervously, watching as her wide-eyed shock crumpled into despair.

Clamping a hand over her mouth, she turned away and tightly closed her eyes, trying to choke back her sob.

_He’s Water Natured._

“Mama?” the child was scared, she could hear it in his voice. He grabbed onto her pants leg. “Mama, are you okay?”

_They’ll take him away from us._

She looked back down at her son, the four-year-old staring up at her worriedly. The tears burned as they made tracks down her cheeks, but she sucked in a painful breath and knelt down in front of him.

“That’s great, sweetie,” she lied, smiling tightly at him and petting his ears. “I-I’m proud of you.”

“But you’re sad,” the kit pointed out, staring at her. “Why’re you sad?”

“Listen to me carefully, Bonito,” she started, carefully and quietly. “Do you remember how I told you that you can’t let anyone know you can control Water?” Bonito nodded, furrowing his brow. “No matter what, no matter what someone asks of you, you don’t show anyone these. Remember?” Again, he nodded. “Under no circumstances- never ever,” she breathed, struggling past the knot in her throat, “are you to use Fire in front of anyone outside of our Family.”

The child’s ears flattened. “Why?”

“You’ll understand one day,” she assured him, gently rubbing at his ear. “Over the next few months y-you’ll notice you can do more. You’ll start- start noticing things. You know how the water seems to call, sometimes?” He nodded slowly, understanding seeming to settle in his eyes. “The same will apply to other things, like fire and- and the earth itself. When you’re around other people, you need to ignore it, okay? _Especially_ the Fire.”

Bonito frowned, watching his mother sadly. “Why?”

“Because,” she spoke quietly, drawing her small kit into her arms, “if they find out what you are, they’ll take you away from me.”

A few seconds of tense silence passed before, nervously, the kit asked, “What am I, Mama?”

She took a breath and ran her fingers through her only child’s fur, trying so hard to not completely break down as she gave him the answer that she had never thought she’d have to say.

“You’re a Fledge.”

* * *

 

“Now remember, Bonito,” the older male rabbit whispered as the kit’s mother went to answer the door, “you can _not_ let them know.”

“Ignore it,” Bonito repeated knowingly, nodding slightly in understanding. It was his fifth birthday, and the last few months of his life had been a whirlwind of learning things his parents simply weren’t prepared for.

 _"Earth is a strong Element. You have to be stronger, in mind_ and _body- but you should never force it. You are its master and you must treat it with respect, but be strong and firm; to show weakness to the Earth shows that you are not a worthy Master.”_

His grandfather stroked his ears as the people around them quieted down, the youngest children being removed from the room- the ones who didn’t yet know better to not speak up. “Good boy.”

_“Fire is made of opposites. It is chaos and it is control, it is safety and it is danger, it is wild and it is reserved, it is free and it is contained. It is life and it is death. You must let it flow like Water, but you must keep control over it at all times- every little movement made with purpose.”_

Two tall, imposing men stepped into the room and the kit’s ears lowered nervously. He could practically feel the energy around them, and there was a collective shifting in the room.

_“Air- it is also the Wind. It is gentle yet merciless; to lose control of the Wind is to lose control of your surroundings. It can help you... or hinder you. You must take care to never let it hinder you, and always use it to your advantage- do not let the Wind turn against you.”_

They were both humans, large and imposing figures in the living room. However, both men simply took a seat in the offered chairs and pulled out a singular clipboard.

_“Electricity is wild and unpredictable. It is best to keep it close; it branches and lashes out at anything that gets in its way, and without careful control and concentration it may hit something that you don’t want it to. Electricity is best used as a tool and defense, as there are too many uncontrollable factors.”_

“Bonito Rodriguez?” the man on the right spoke up, his voice deep and rolling and frightening. His grandfather scratched his ear one last time and gently pushed him over to the two men.

_“Shadows are calm and patient. They wait and listen, but they never attack. To be the Shadows’ master, you must learn patience; it is to wait carefully by doors, to blend into your surroundings, to learn things you otherwise would never know. Shroud yourself in Shadow and you can go anywhere.”_

Bonito climbed up onto the chair across from both men, looking towards his parents worriedly. Everyone there was giving him comforting smiles and Spring’s father gave him a thumbs up, encouraging him to do his best to fail.

_“Light is much more aggressive than Shadow- it is direct, less patient and much more intense. It does not attack, but can be used to distract, blind, and even hide, should you manage to learn how to manipulate it around you. Everything you see is light- everything you see can be changed.”_

“Bonito Rodriguez?” the human repeated, looking at the kit. Bonito nodded and gulped nervously. The other man pulled something out of his bag and set it down on the table in front of him. Bonito looked at it, noticing that it was a candle, and as he watched it the man snapped his fingers and the wick lit up. Instantly his ears caught the crackling hum that he knew wasn’t in his ears but in his very mind.

_“Water, much like Fire, is made of opposites. It can be gentle, but then it can be cruel. It can destroy everything in one fell swoop or provide the necessities of life. It can give life just as easily as it can take it. It is flow and force, careful measurement and contained fury.”_

“Bonito, do you hear anything?”

_“This is what being a Fledge means, Bonito. All of these Elements speak to you- call to you- and you must learn to control every single one to avoid any accidents. It will not be easy. On your fifth birthday they will come and Check, and you must ignore the Elements’ calls. You must pretend they are meaningless to you. Every single one will call, and Water and Fire will call the strongest- but you must ignore it.”_

“No, sir, I don’t hear anything,” he lied, tearing his eyes away from the flame to look up at the men.

_“You must pretend that you are a Norand.”_

The men replaced the candle with a bottle of water, and the hum was much smoother, gentler than the fire’s, filling Bonito’s mind. He knew he had to ignore it.

_“If you are discovered, they will take you away from us, Bonito.”_

He had to play the part.

_“You can never let anyone know the truth.”_

He wouldn’t let his parents down.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The image at the bottom is just a lazy thing I threw together to give you a picture of how their IDs will look. In the next chapter, you'll see how a Pazon's ID looks (it's VERY SLIGHTLY different).
> 
> If you're wondering why they take a child's word for it- children pretty much have to be _vigorously_ trained to ignore an Element's call, especially their Natural Element. When an Element is "freshly developed" it is _extremely_ hard for the Elemental to ignore it- which is why the Check is done at age 5 rather than later, as the Elements always develop between the ages of 3 and 5. 5 is that optimal age where every single Element a person has will have developed and they're still young enough to not resist the "call." Unfortunately for them, 5 is old enough to be taught to lie through your teeth.
> 
> Elements are NOT the only abilities that exist in this world, but everyone who is not a "Norand" has at least one Element. It is possible to have more than one Element, but none of those secondary Elements can clash with their Nature. The only exception to this rule is when someone is a Fledge, an incredibly rare occurrence where someone has ALL of the Elements. (Notably, Fledges cannot have non-Elemental abilities.)
> 
> A person's Nature is the first Element that a Pazon develops (also called their Natural Element), and it is their strongest Element. Water's Anti-Nature is Fire, Shadow's Anti-Nature is Light, and Earth- Earth is a bit strange. It has two Anti-Natures; Electricity and Air, but Electricity and Air are not Anti-Natures to each other.
> 
> As a chart, it'd look like this;  
> Fire:Water Air:Earth:Electricity Light:Shadow
> 
> A Fledge's Anti-Nature is always the second Element to develop, and it tends to be almost as strong as their Nature. Blu's mother realized he was a Fledge so quickly because he had already developed Water, and then he developed Fire.


	2. Purple

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the conflict is being introduced immediately, since it's what brings the characters all together so yeah XD 
> 
> I'm hoping this story won't be nearly as long as my others (I predict that storyline-wise Phantom Watchers will be the longest, chapter-wise BTM will be longest, and either Division or Lakeview Road will be shortest in both regards) but it will take some time, since I prefer slow build relationships. So we'll see how this goes!

Stretching his arms out above his head, the blue rabbit groaned and opened his eyes. The alarm clock next to him was blaring the morning news-  _ what a way to wake up, to a snooze fest!- _ so he reached over and slapped at the buttons on top. After a third try, his finger hit the right button and the monotone of the weatherman’s voice silenced.

Bonito let out a breath and sat up in bed, letting the comforter fall down around his waist as he stared across his room to the mirror on his door. His fur was messy and fell over his face in annoying curls that he just wasn’t willing to cut  _ no matter how much his mother said he needed to... _ the oversized shirt he wore was wrinkled and twisted somewhat, a telltale sign of how he’d tossed and turned in the night.

“Is it really time for school again?” he muttered, slipping out of bed finally. Without much thought, he tugged the shirt up over his head and threw it at the laundry basket as he went to his closet, ignoring how it hit the edge of the basket and fell onto the floor. He pulled out a pair of pale blue jeans and his favourite green T-shirt, dressed quickly, and then grabbed his brush off his desk as he made his way over to the mirror.

The battle with his curls was annoying at best but nothing he wasn’t used to, carefully tugging the brush through the thick tuft of fur until it at least  _ looked _ manageable. Reaching over to his desk again, he dropped his brush and grabbed a small container he kept there and opened it up.

Truth be told, the bobby pins were less a tool to keep his fur out of his face and more for  _ just in case. _ That had been his entire life so far-  _ just in case. _ Just in case he was found out, just in case something...  _ happened. _ Just...  _ just in case. _

Everything else? Well, that was just an added bonus.

He strategically placed the hairpins in his fur, pushing the curls away from his forehead so that they wouldn’t annoy him throughout the day. By the time he’d finished, he had eight pins unnoticeably tucked through his fur and the curls were pretty much literally the  _ only _ thing about him that was presentable.

The rest of his fur messy and his clothes not exactly ironed, Bonito deemed himself presentable enough. 

_ It’s just school, after all. _

The sound of his phone vibrating caught his attention, so Bonito dropped the tin of pins back on his desk and went over to his nightstand, snatching his phone up and looking at the caller ID. Two rabbits- one with golden fur and the other with black fur, each laughing as they gave each other redundant “bunny ears”- lit up the display and Bonito grinned, swiping across  _ answer. _

“Hey, Spring,” he greeted his friend, kneeling down to the dresser under his bed and opening his sock drawer. “What’s up?”

“Hey, Blu! Just wanted to make sure you remembered to set your alarm,” came his friend’s teasing voice. Bonito- or Blu- rolled his eyes and smiled fondly.

“Did you dump water on Bonsha in order to wake him up?” he shot back instead, sitting on his bed to tug the socks on his feet. He didn’t really like wearing shoes- it made things more complicated for him, personally, but only Earth-Elemental Pazons were allowed to go without shoes at school- but he had learned to deal with it

“Yep!” Spring cheerfully responded. “He wasn’t very appreciative though, he tried to set my curtain on fire.”

“I notice you said  _ tried.” _

“Fire’s my Natural Element, Blu- he can try all he wants but he’s still Shadow and Fire is mine.”

Blu laughed and shook his head, glancing at the ceiling. “You’re both impossible. I’m almost ready to go.”

“Did you actually brush your fur this time?”

“I have absolutely no patience for that, Spring.”

“Good, I won’t be alone.”

Snorting, Blu stood up and slipped his feet into his shoes, reaching down to tug on the tongue. “Chii, Mangle, and Red are probably gonna look meticulous, though.”

“Those three look fabulous even when their fur and feathers are messy.”

“Are you saying I don’t look fabulous?” Blu gasped in mock offense. “Rude!”

Spring just laughed. “Seeya in five, Blu.”

“You too,” he answered right before the  _ click _ of Spring hanging up reached through the phone. Sighing, he dropped his phone in his pocket, shouldered his bookbag, and grabbed his guitar case from its corner next to the door. With one glance around his bedroom- noting the shirt sitting on the floor, the blanket hanging down and spilling onto the carpet, the closet door left wide open, and the books left open on his desk- he stepped out and closed the door, careful to not make too much noise and disturb his younger toddler siblings down the hallway. Determining that neither kit woke up, he went downstairs and towards the front door.

“Bonito,” he heard his father call, “you gonna eat breakfast?”

“Nah,” he answered, looking towards the kitchen. “I’m meeting up with Spring and Bonsha, we’ll grab something on the way to school.”

“Alright, be careful.”

“Same to you.”

* * *

“I hate cars so much,” Blu groaned as he climbed out of the backseat of Bonsha’s car. “Hate it, hate it, hate it.”

“We know, Blu,” Spring told him, amusement dancing in his eyes as he slipped out of the passenger seat. “You’ve only been saying that for thirteen years now.”

“Well I’ll keep saying it until I’m dead.”

Sighing, Bonsha picked up two of the guitars out of the trunk. “We have no doubt,” he assured the shorter blue rabbit, “but for now let’s get inside, we need to drop these off in the studio.”

Blu accepted the guitar offered to him as Spring took his own, and Shab proceeded to pull his own out of the trunk. Adjusting the bookbag on his back, Blu looked around with a frown. “Where’s Chii, Red and Mangle?” he wondered aloud.

“Behind you,” a voice laughed, prompting Blu to yelp and turn around. Behind him stood a chicken, a bear, and a fox, each one looking equally amused. “Come on, let’s go before we’re late,” Chii continued before Blu could even respond to her.

The group of friends started towards the school, easily falling into step together; Spring, Bonsha, and Chii walked in the front, Mangle walked just two steps in front of Blu, and right next to Blu was Red.

“Did you guys walk here?” Blu asked his friend curiously, glancing at Red.

“Of course,” Red confirmed, raising a brow and looking in his direction. Their eyes met briefly, but it was as if the bear was looking right through him. “What, did you expect me to  _ willingly _ get in a car?”

Blu snorted at that and shook his head, turning his gaze forward again. “Of course not.”

“Then what was the point of asking?”

“Curiosity.”

“Curiosity killed the cat.”

“Ah,” Blu tsked, raising a finger in the air, “but satisfaction brought it back.”

Before the bear could respond, a shout sounded from somewhere behind them right before a blur of red zipped past, causing the group of friends to stumble. Mangle groaned.

“Pazons,” they scoffed a moment before a bolt of Electricity whipped past them, prompting Blu and Spring- the two closest to said bolt- to yelp and jerk back.

“Get back here, Foxy!” an angry voice screeched and Blu turned around to look at the purple-furred rabbit running after the fox. For a moment, just a moment, he thought about  _ shrieking _ at the rabbit that  _ Electricity isn’t for long distance attacks, you fuckface, you could have killed us! _ But he stopped himself; that wasn’t something he was supposed to know.

Instead he watched, unimpressed, as the rabbit ran past, eyes never leaving the fox’s fleeing blur.

“Never!” the fox crowed from ahead, pausing to just  _ tempt _ the rabbit into  _ actually _ killing him. Blu shared a look with his friends and they all shook their heads.

“Time to survive another year of being surrounded by reckless airheaded Norands and reckless consequenceless Pazons,” Bonsha huffed as they continued to the school building, none of them giving the Pazons in question a second glance. “Honestly, ain’t it just so fun being us?”

“At least we’re not alone,” Chii pointed out chipperly, and Blu followed her gaze to another small group of students whispering together. He recognized them- he didn’t exactly  _ talk _ to them very much, but he recognized Mangle’s sister and Red’s cousin and their two human friends. “Now they’re here, too.”

“Yeah,” Mangle snorted disdainfully, “Fiona, Ferrah, Ballora and Babette. Like we actually even talk to them.”  _ Mangle really doesn’t like their sister... _

“Oh give it a break,” Chii sighed, “they’ll be just as outcast as we are.”

“Plus all the others,” Blu tacked on, glancing around the parking lot right before they entered the school. Notably all of the students were divided into small clusters and groups, and it wasn’t hard to tell them apart.

It was an unwritten rule that Pazons and Norands don’t interact on a social level.

Walking down the hallways was as if the sea had split; on one side were all of the Pazons, and on the other side were all of the Norands.

And all of the “Norands” were in neither group.

Blu sighed and hitched his bookbag higher. “At least this is our last year.”

“Yeah,” Spring agreed, pausing at their little group of lockers. Thankfully lockers were given in a sequential order and they just happened to get lockers in the middle of the row, Chii at the start and Blu at the end of their little cluster. They didn’t  _ need _ the lockers right then but it was best to test their combinations before they were on a tight time restraint, just in case the combination was wrong. “And then it’s off to... well... wherever.”

“Maybe,” Blu hummed, successfully opening his locker. “Mom and Dad want me to stay here and, uh, take over the family business.”

“Family business,” Bonsha repeated with a snort, glancing over at him. “Well technically speaking you  _ are _ the heir.”

“I will punch you in the face,” Blu warned, slamming his locker shut. Bonsha simply laughed and Spring shook his head while Blu pouted. “It’s not funny!”

Then the owner of the locker on Blu’s right arrived.

Blu’s ears twitched and he glanced up at the purple-furred Pazon, whose scowl was very much so  _ not _ fake. He was a student Blu recognized- someone who was always in pretty much all of his non-Norand specific classes... math, history, economics, English, the lot. His name was Bonnie Anderson or Henderson or something, Blu couldn’t be bothered to remember.

Apparently noticing the slight movement, crimson eyes shifted over to Blu. Something about Blu’s expression must have tipped the taller rabbit off that Blu was  _ not _ happy with this arrangement as he simply raised a single unimpressed brow before turning back to his locker, yanking the door open.

Neither said a word. Pazons and Norands didn’t socialize... for positive  _ or _ negative reasons.

Turning back to Bonsha, Blu said, “C’mon, let’s drop our guitars off with Mr. Fitzgerald.”

“Right,” the rabbit twins agreed.

“We’ll walk with y’all,” Chii decided, Mangle and Red nodding in agreement.

“Alright,” Blu laughed as they broke away from the lockers, heading down the hallway. “Any excuse to talk to Mr. Fitzgerald, huh?”

“Oh please, mom invited him to dinner yesterday and he didn’t show.”

“Mm,” Blu hummed, glancing over his shoulder. Henderson-  _ yeah, definitely Henderson, _ he decided- was speaking to the fox that had blasted past them just five minutes before in the parking lot, both looking annoyed with each other. His ears twitched as a soft hum reached him and his gaze shifted to the wall, a small smirk lighting up his face. 

“Blu, whatever you’re thinking,” Red suddenly started, “don’t-”

_ Too late, _ Blu laughed silently, glancing over his shoulder and flicking his ear. Both Pazons paused and looked at the wall, a bizarre expression on their faces, right before the wall broke and water erupted right on them.

“Blu,” Red hissed under his breath, reaching out and grabbing his arm as the Pazons, and those around them, let out distressed cries. “You’re causing damage.”

“They can’t pin it on me,” Blu hummed, facing forward again. “Besides, they’ll fix it.”

“Blu,” the bear groaned, covering his eyes. “You’re going to get into  _ so _ much trouble one of these days- someone’s gonna guess it’s you eventually.”

“I dunno what you’re talking about,” Blu replied, glancing at his distressed friend. “I’m a Norand, remember?”

Bonsha and Mangle both laughed, but Blu couldn’t help but notice Spring and Chii share nervous looks.

“I dunno,” Chii started, crossing her arms, “isn’t it kinda... mean?”

“Not as mean as endangering people’s lives,” Blu practically growled, glancing at the people around them. None of them paid him or his friends any attention and the friends quickly slipped into the music room, the rabbits setting their guitars down on the shelf. “So they have to fix a wall and a section of pipe, those two  _ idiots _ nearly fried us.”

“You mean  _ us,” _ Mangle deadpanned, shaking their head. “You wouldn’t have been affected all that much. Maybe a little singed and hospitalized, but you wouldn’t be bacon.”

“Well that’s beside the point,” Blu muttered, glancing towards the teacher’s office. There was another man inside with their strawberry-blonde teacher that Blu didn’t recognize, but the expressions on their faces told Blu that whatever it was, it was important. “Chii, you’re gonna have to talk to him later, someone else’s in there with him.”

“Aw dammit,” Chii sighed as they turned to leave. “Mom really wants to know why he didn’t even call last night.”

“Bet it has something to do with that guy in there with him,” Spring guessed quietly, his gaze on the office window until it was out of sight. “He’s wearing purple.”

“So?” Blu asked, raising a brow at Spring. “People like to wear purple, when’s that ever been a crime?”

“Dad said he saw some guys hanging around our neighborhood,” Bonsha explained quietly, glancing at Blu. “Around our houses, specifically, and they were all wearing purple.”

“Coincidence,” Blu dismissed with a frown. “Why would someone be hanging outside our houses though? Unless...”

“It’s possible,” Red answered softly, his eyes on the tiles beneath their feet. “Perhaps we should be more subtle in the future. Mother mentioned there were some folks hanging around our house, too.”

“Same,” Mangle added nervously, rubbing their arm and glancing aside. “My parents don’t want us practicing in our backyard anymore. Said we have to go to Sabia now.”

“Mine didn’t mention anything,” Chii hummed, sharing a nervous look with Blu. “I mean, do you think they found out...?”

“We’ll need to ask the others,” Blu decided, crossing his arms and glancing around. “If they’ve noticed any strange behavior... well, guess I’ll have a job to do, huh?”

“Don’t be stupid,” Bonsha immediately snapped, quite a bit louder than he’d meant to be. “There’s no fucking way we’re letting you do that.”

“Do what?”

All of them, except Red, jumped in surprise and whirled around, eyes wide. Standing behind them were two bears, one with the most bored expression on his face and the other with a raised brow.

_ Freddy Fazbear and his brother. _

Freddy Fazbear was well known around the school for being the one Pazon who crossed that gap; he often helped everybody, no matter if they were Norand or Pazon. He had spoken to Blu and Blu’s friends a few times, usually when he overheard them discussing something-  _ that’s in chapter 10 _ or _ Salvage, you dropped your sketchbook _ being among the few words he’d ever said to them.

He was by no means a friend or ally, but Blu didn’t consider him an enemy either.

His brother, on the other hand, looked like he was dying of boredom, pointedly ignoring the group of “Norands” in front of them.

Blu plastered a fake smile on his face. “Oh, it’s nothing,” he excused, “we’re just talking about a Norand sport. Bonsha’s just salty that I beat him last time.”

“You only beat me because you cheated,” Bonsha huffed, crossing his arms and falling seamlessly into the role as he glared at Blu.

“It’s not cheating if it’s not outlined in the rules,” Spring informed his brother, slinging an arm over his shoulders and grinning cheekily at him. “You’re the one who said-”

“I know what I said but that was  _ clearly _ cheating.”

The bears shared a bemused look and the golden brother shrugged at the younger. “I suppose we’ll leave you to that,” Freddy decided, nodding politely and moving to walk around them. Blu’s ear twitched as he undoubtedly caught the elder brother mutter,  _ “Strange kids,” _ to the younger.

When the bears disappeared around the next corner, the group let out a collective sigh.

“We should really be talking in code,” Blu muttered, turning around and continuing towards their classroom. 

“Or better yet not speaking so openly,” Spring returned wryly, letting his arm drop away from Bonsha’s shoulders. “Red, why didn’t’cha tell us they were there?”

“How could I have told you without tipping them off?” Red shot back, frowning. “I can’t exactly speak telepathically to you.”

“And not so closely to someone who  _ can, _ anyway,” Mangle snorted, giving them a sidelong glance. “Remember? That’s one of those guys’ Power. They would’a sensed that shit faster than Blu picks up on Water.”

“Shut up, Mangle,” Blu sighed, rolling his eyes. Thankfully no one else was close by to them. “Let’s just shut up, we can talk more at home.”

* * *

Bonnie wasn’t having a good day, and that was putting it lightly.

First his schedule had been changed without any warning, and  _ then _ he found out Foxy had snagged his lucky pen. He had proceeded to trip down the stairs, waking his parents up in the process and getting a hell of a lecture, in his rush out the door only to realize he had woken up  _ an entire hour early _ and school wasn’t for another  _ forty minutes. _ To make matters worse, the moment Foxy caught sight of him, he  _ ran _ away, and Bonnie gave chase and got  _ lectured _ by his best friend for nearly hitting a group of Norands with his Electricity-  _ What Norands? I didn’t see them!- _ and  _ then  _ he found out he had a stupid locker with a dented lip that didn’t like opening.

Directly following that? A water pipe burst. Right next to him. Spraying him with water. A lot of water.

The only upside was that Foxy got soaked too.

Thankfully, Foxy was nice enough to remove the water from them both and even helped other Water Elementals redirect the water flow, but it still pissed Bonnie off. He managed to get his pen back and head to class... just to find out that his schedule change had been a prank by Shafred and he was at  _ the opposite side of school from where he needed to be. _

Needless to say, by lunch time Bonnie just wanted to throw someone out a window. To avoid doing so, he went out to the courtyard to “sulk by himself,” as Chica had put it.

So there he sat beneath a tree, enjoying the late August sunlight and watching, boredly, as the people around him messed around. One group of people at a table was laughing too loudly, pouring over a magazine of some kind, while further away two Pazons sparred. The only people out there actually eating was a group of six people sitting in the grass, leaning in and whispering to one another at random intervals.

Bonnie recognized all six of them- it was hard not to. They were just so... strange, even for Norands. No, it wasn’t  _ just _ the Pazons who avoided Spring Salvage and his friends; as the six passed in the hallways, Norands would give them strange glances as none of them paid  _ anyone _ any mind, with very few exceptions- and those exceptions tended to be _other,_ equally-strange students. Even Freddy was convinced something was off about them, and Freddy took everything with a grain of salt.  


However, people had learned to simply accept the strange Norands for what they were; strange Norands. 

It was no business of Bonnie’s anyway, even if one of them was his locker neighbor.

Sighing, Bonnie leaned back against the tree and looked around. It took him a moment to notice one last person sitting in the courtyard; a human. He raised a brow, watching the girl with curly brown hair and deep violet coat writing something down on a clipboard. She seemed to be...  _ watching. _

Bonnie didn’t recognize her.

Before he could really ponder on it, however, the bell rang and everyone started to get up to go to classes. Sighing, Bonnie climbed to his feet.  _ Time for practical applications... _

* * *

He saw her out of the corner of his eye, following closely behind them with that clip board in her hands. She was following much too closely for Blu to be comfortable, and her eyes kept flickering over to them. Leaning over to Red, the rabbit quietly asked, “Do you know who that is?”

“No,” Red answered, voice just as low. “Her form is unfamiliar to me, but I can tell you she’s definitely a Pazon.”

“How do you know?” Blu mumbled, trying not to look as suspicious as he felt. It had been much easier to have conversations in plain sight back when everyone around them were easily distracted, self-absorbed kids, but now as teenagers who had been taught to observe their surroundings... well, Blu knew they needed to be careful.

“She seems to have a cuff on her ankle, feels suspiciously like an inhibitor cuff...”

Blu paused, looking at Red. “What?” Inhibitor cuffs were a relatively new invention and Red’s father was the very one who discovered the material, through a freak accident, that made them. They were so new that they  _ definitely _ hadn’t been sold to anyone in the public- hell, as far as Blu knew, they never would be. After all, the government had no interest in inhibiting Pazons’ Abilities... as far as Blu knew, it was only going to be used to aid children in the Society...

So the fact that Red thought that this complete stranger might be wearing one was quite a surprise.

“Be quiet,” Red warned, sightless eyes flicking over their shoulders as he grabbed Blu’s arm and pulled him along. “Pretty sure she has an inhibitor on her ankle, beneath her pants leg. That’s why she’s wearing bell bottom jeans in the twenty-first century.”

“Alfred,” Spring lightly scolded, nudging the bear, “bell-bottom jeans are still in.”

“No they’re not,” Mangle and Chii chorused while Bonsha shook his head.

“Guys, stop being mean,” Spring huffed, frowning. 

“She’s  _ following _ us,” Blu muttered darkly, glancing over his shoulder at the human shadowing them. “I don’t think she qualifies for us being  _ nice, _ Spring.”

“She’s wearing purple,” Bonsha noted. “Wonder if that has any meaning.”

“We’ll find out, I guess.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why is Freddy always my go-to neutral figure XD (might be because he's the titular character, or maybe just because my Freddy is so calm and objective... idk)
> 
> Also establishing that Blu is not only a typical teenager with typical childish revenge schemes and general lack of caring for the damage he does to the school, but also a typical Fledge who feels the pressure of being a Fledge ("I guess I'll have a job to do, huh?")
> 
> Note that Bonnie said there were multiple groups of strange students who interact with one another. Blu & Co. are not the ONLY strange kids in the school.
> 
> Now, lemme do a brief explanation of Red since it's established that he's blind. He's an Earth Elemental but that does NOT enable him to see the way Toph from Avatar does. He has a secondary ability that is "passive," it's kind of like another sense where he feels the area directly around him up to a certain radius (only the surface area, though- meaning he can't see under clothing for the most part, the exception being stalker-girl's bell-bottoms because they're bell-bottoms haaaaa, and other clothing that is super loose and does not "complete" a surface, like a jacket that hangs loosely from your shoulders). It "builds" a scene in his mind that he can NOT see, but he can "feel" and distinguish. He cannot see screens, he cannot read writing (he can't pick up on details THAT small), etc; he gets by with "reading" and writing by mimicing others' motions. He can pick up on motion better than he can on still objects, seeing as they grab his attention so much more. He has to get pretty creative at times to hide the fact that he's blind- WHY he's hiding it, you'll have to wait and see.


	3. Laying the Trap

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I graduated, yay! XD
> 
> Sorry for how long it's taking me to update, I'm recovering from a mood crash and depression, but I'm working on everything now :) 
> 
> When I update BTM, you're gonna have a surprise...

The next morning Blu was awoken not by his alarm clock but by his phone ringing. Groaning, he reached over to his bedside table and picked his phone up, not even bothering to look at the caller ID, and hit answer.

“What?” he whined into the phone, squinting his eyes at the clock. It read 4:37. “It’s too early-”

“Blu,” Bonsha’s voice interrupted, hardly above a whisper. Blu quieted, listening tiredly to his friend. “I want you to very, very, _very_ carefully peek outside your window. Just look between the curtain and wall, don’t move anything.”

Something in Bonsha’s tone worried Blu. His ears twitched and he debated, just for a moment, whether he should listen or just go back to sleep. Of course his more paranoid side won out and, rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he carefully slid out of bed and crept over to his window.

Cautiously, he peeked between the curtain and wall, gazing down at the street below.

For a moment he didn’t notice anything, but then he saw the car slowly driving by.

“This is the sixth time since Spring woke me up that they’ve done this,” Bonsha revealed. “He said he woke me up after twice, who knows how long they’ve actually been out there.”

“They definitely know something,” Blu muttered, all semblance of sleep fleeing him. “This might be trouble.”

“Blu, please don’t do anything stupid,” Bonsha almost begged.

“Bonsha, I am going to do something _very_ stupid. Like, dangerously stupid.”

“Please don’t.”

He watched the car disappear from his vision finally, frowning to himself. “If these people know something about the Family, Bonsha, I have to do something.”

“Let the adults take care of it,” Bonsha countered heatedly. “They’re masters, you’re still learning.”

“Yeah, and I’m a Fledge so-”

“That doesn’t give you an excuse to run off-”

“Bonsha,” Blu hissed, cutting his friend off. “I know, being a Fledge doesn’t _inherently_ give me that kind of power or responsibility, but this is the Family we’re talking about- not to mention our _personal_ families.” He paused, glancing towards the wall. “I have a brother and sister, Bonsha- and you have two brothers. What do you think these people, whose intentions we don’t know, will do to them?”

There was silence on the other end.

“There’s a few things worse than death,” Blu reminded him, “and I don’t want anyone I care about being subjected to it.”

“Let’s just tell our parents,” Bonsha pleaded with him. “They can handle it.”

“I don’t think they can,” Blu sighed, keeping his eyes on the street. He could just barely catch a shadow dart across the street. “They’re not even actual masters, Bonsha- they just know enough to not get caught.”

“And you know even less.”

“Yeah but I just...” he trailed off, unsure of how to respond. After a moment, he finished with, “It’s just something I need to do, okay?” He was already forming a plan in his head- and it was a plan he knew the Family would disapprove of, and not just because Blu would be putting himself in danger...

Depending on their intention, Blu knew there were several options he could take.

“Let’s be honest here,” Blu continued, “I’m the most likely to get out unscathed. I mean, what if they’re Pazons? The natural thing would be for them to use Elements, and you guys can still get easily hurt.”

“So can you, if their intent is strong enough. You’re not infallible, Blu.”

“No, I’m not,” Blu agreed, watching as the car peeked into view again. It seemed to be going even slower. “I could still get hurt. But I’m much less likely to die than any of you guys.”

Bonsha sighed and Blu could practically hear him rubbing his face with his hand. “Okay, but will you at least let us help?”

“I can’t control what you do,” Blu reminded him, noting the car practically stopped right in front of his house. “You already know what I’m about to do, right?”

“A bait and trap.”

“You guessed it.”

“We’ll be on standby for your call, I guess.”

“You’ll cover for me?”

“For two nights. If you’re not back the third day, Blu, I _will_ tell our parents what you did, and I will claim you silvertongued me into going along.”

“I don’t have a silvertongue.”

“As far as we know.”

Blu let out a breath and shook his head, watching as the shadow slipped into the car and they drove off. “I get it,” he finally agreed. “Two nights, three days. I’ll scope it out and figure out what they’re up to, figure out where I am, and I’ll give you and Spring a call. Won’t even use any Elements if they’re not necessary.”

“You swear?”

“Absolutely.”

“And no Fire?”

“Well they don’t know I’m Wat-”

“Blu!”

“Well of course no Fire, do you think I’m a moron?!” Blu hissed back, stepping away from the curtain. It was _way_ too early to argue with his friend... “I’ll do a bait and trap tomorrow after school, if I notice any of them following us.”

“Right,” Bonsha sighed, sounding uneasy. “We still need to talk to the others... Please don’t get yourself killed.”

Blu glanced at the clock. 4:52. “No promises.”

* * *

Something was off, Bonnie noticed the moment he walked into the school. He glanced around, noting the normal groups of Norands and Pazons chatting among themselves, as separated as always, but for some reason a few clumps of Norands weren't just chatting but whispering, glancing around nervously and shutting up as he passed them by... and the most suspicious ones, he decided as he approached his locker, was Salvage’s group.

They stayed close together, whispering and muttering to one another way too lowly for even Bonnie to pick up on, but there was a tension around them that Bonnie could practically feel.

It made him feel colder than he was, so he carefully tugged (mentally, of course) at the air around himself, letting out a breath as it warmed him.

But only slightly.

As he stepped up to his locker, one of them- a bear, he noted distractedly- said, “Not that I don’t agree but we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. It could have easily been an accident.”

“Yeah right, Red,” the blue rabbit snorted as he tugged his own locker open, pulling out his books. “Like she _actually_ accidentally-”

Bonnie tuned out and pulled his English textbook out of his locker; he didn’t really care about whatever game the Norands were talking about, no matter how _off_ their conversation sounded... or how abruptly they had abandoned their whispers for more casual tones.

It simply wasn’t any of his business.

 _“Bonnie,”_ he heard a call in his mind, and he breathed out in slight annoyance.

 _“Goldie,”_ he started, closing his locker, _“you know I don’t like you just popping in like this.”_

 _“Sorry,”_ the bear apologized as Bonnie looked around, hoping to locate him. He didn’t appear to be in the hallway. _“It’s just- does something feel... off to you?”_

 _“Well duh,”_ Bonnie agreed, glancing suspiciously at the Norands next to him. _“Everyone seems to be whispering things, and they shut up the moment any Pazon gets near them.”_

 _“It’s not everybody,”_ Freddy’s voice suddenly cut in. _“Only the people part of that weird church.”_

 _“Everyone who’s whispering is wearing that bird symbol on them somewhere,”_ Goldie added, and Bonnie blinked, looking around. He quickly located the suspicious students and scanned their outfits, his frown sharpening as he did so.

On a shirt was a little bird symbol. There it was, hanging on a chain from a belt loop or around someone’s neck. There it was as a hair clip, a tattoo on a human’s hand, a charm on a bracelet, a single earring- and each of the students in the group next to him had it too.

Rodriguez’s little bird was on his shirt, stitched in a pale yellow that stood out against the green. Both Salvage brothers wore silver birds on the collars of their shirts, pinned there subtly but clearly. Kain, the only female of the group, wore a pale pink bird inside a lilac pendant around her neck, just barely peeking over the neckline of her shirt. Blanc’s bird was also pink and dangled from their wrist alongside a tiny pirate ship charm and a music note. Fischbach’s bird was a little harder to spot, but a few moments of silent searching found the _very_ subtle red-golden bird on his right ring finger, almost blending in with his fur.

 _“So it’s a weird cult thing,”_ Bonnie silently said, feeling himself relax. _“Everyone knows those “society” members are all crackpots.”_ It was, admittedly, the first time he realized that so many people in their school were members. He had gotten so used to the symbol that it had become an everyday thing.

No one outside of “society” members, as they called _themselves,_ dared to wear the symbol. Norands believed them to be traitors and Pazons viewed them as wannabes, and literally no one knew just what the hell was taught in that religion.

All they knew was that it was made up solely of Norands and it seemed to worship Fledges, as it was so creatively titled _The Society of the Fledge._

Which was, in itself, ridiculous- Fledges were rare but not one-of-a-kind. There was no _“The_ Fledge.” Just _a_ Fledge. And sure they were well respected, but they weren’t _gods._

 _“I never noticed just how many of them attended school with us, though,”_ Bonnie mused to his friends, turning his gaze back to the hallway. His gaze scanned over everyone, singling out every single bird he saw. It didn’t take him long to pick up the pattern.

Pazons and Norands didn’t socialize with each other, but it seemed Norands and Society members didn’t socialize with each other either.

 _“Crackpots, all of ‘em,”_ Foxy’s voice groused an agreement in his head. _“Just ignore ‘em, they just be doin’ some weird Fledge-worshippin’ bullshit. Maybe sacrificin’ a lamb ir a virgin or somethin’.”_

 _“Foxy,”_ Chica sighed, _“I highly doubt they do sacrifices. They might be creepy and weird but I doubt they’re evil.”_

 _“Ye never know,”_ Foxy said simply, and Bonnie rolled his eyes as he headed off to class. _“Anythin’ could be goin’ on in that church._

* * *

“I’m gonna drop my stuff off at home, guys,” Blu announced to his friends, tossing his bag over his shoulder and frowning slightly. They were in the parking lot at school after most everyone else had left, and his guitar had been placed carefully in Shab’s car, but he wasn’t going with them- they were heading downtown, after all, and he had a job to do. “Don’t wanna lug it around. I’ll be by later,” he added towards Red, who simply nodded in understanding.

They both knew he wouldn’t show up, after all.

Bonsha stepped in close, lowering his voice. “Remember,” he warned, “Two nights, three days- if you’re not back by sunset day three, I _will_ tell the adults what happened.”

“I got it,” Blu sighed, nodding a confirmation. “I’ll be back before then. I’ll call you,” he added towards Spring, “soon as I can.”

“Blu,” Mangle huffed, frowning at him, “I think this is a _very_ stupid idea but you’re too stubborn and hardheaded to listen to me. So just... be careful. This isn’t a game, after all.”

“I know,” Blu confirmed with a shrug. He smiled confidently at his friends. “I’m not scared- everything’ll be fine, yeah?”

“Still,” Spring mumbled, stepping even closer to him- if it had been anyone outside of their little group it would have been way too close for comfort. “You need to be very careful- one slip-up could cost you.”

“It’s a bait and trap,” Blu dismissed, glancing away from his friend’s intense gaze. “You know Papa’s had me practice these kinds of things anyway.” _Just in case._

“Yeah, but he’s never had any intention of hurting you.”

“It’ll be fine,” Blu assured him, shooting him a grin before turning to leave. He threw a wave back at them as he hurried down the sidewalk towards his house. “Be careful!” he called back to them.

“Same to you!” he just caught Chii’s voice before he was out of range.

_I’ll certainly try._

When he arrived home, he quickly headed inside and ran to his bedroom, dropping his bookbag on the bed. He glanced in the mirror and considered changing shirts, but then he dismissed the thought and hurried back towards the front door again. He couldn’t waste any time.

“Bonito, is that you?” his mother called suddenly, and Blu flinched. _What is she doing home right now? Shouldn’t she be picking Bella and Pepi up from daycare?_

“Yes, Mama!” he called back, hand on the doorknob. “I’m just dropping my bag off, heading to Red’s place.”

“Alright then,” she almost laughed. “Lazy kids, you should go do your homework together or something. Have fun and be careful.”

“Same to you,” he answered instinctively. “Love ya, Mama!” Then he was out the door and hurrying in the direction of Red’s house- nice and isolated, away from the city.

He had to play his cards perfectly, and he glanced over his shoulder, scanning the people behind him. The neighborhood streets weren’t quite empty, so there were just enough people for the wolf in violet to not look suspicious as he walked a fair distance from Blu.

The rabbit looked forwards again, a small smirk on his face. _The bait has been laid._

* * *

Bonnie settled into his defensive pose, never moving his eyes away from his opponent. Freddy, on the other hand, stood there calmly watching him, looking much more relaxed than he had any right to in a mock battle.

That was how it always went, and it _always_ got on his nerves.

“Gonna move, Bonnie?” Freddy asked innocently, tilting his head slightly. They were the last “battle” of the day, the two having already each fought the others. Their friends watched them, recording the battle as per protocol and anticipating who would make the first move.

It was really no contest, though; although each could be used for defensive purposes, Electricity was primarily offense and Earth was primarily defense.

And Freddy had the patience of a century-old snail.

“Just giving you a chance to cede the battle,” Bonnie shot back sarcastically, waiting for the perfect moment. The protective padding the bear wore would prevent Bonnie’s lightning from truly landing a mark and potentially killing his friend just like the padding Bonnie wore would prevent his friend from actually breaking any of his bones with the rocks he threw at him, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t take each hit seriously.

“If I remember right, I’m the one who always wins,” Freddy snorted, shaking his head. Bonnie took the moment of distraction to his advantage, quickly sliding his foot forward and throwing his hand out, bright yellow electricity shooting out faster than he could blink.

It didn’t phase the bear at all as he just stomped his foot, a wall of stone shooting up out of the ground. The electricity collided with the wall and it exploded into thousands of chunks of rock, but Bonnie didn’t wait to let the bear recover; he threw another bolt without hesitation, but Freddy was no longer standing there.

“Oh for the love of-” Bonnie yelped as the ground beneath his feet shook. He jumped into the air just as Freddy’s hands emerged to grab at ankles that were no longer there, and Bonnie landed a few steps away. As he did, however, Freddy’s hands disappeared and the ground he was standing on suddenly flew into the air.

“Fuck!” Bonnie cursed, grabbing onto the floating slab of rock as he looked down at Freddy standing right beside the “mountain” area of the arena. _That certainly explains the deep rock under us,_ he thought, scowling down at Freddy.

Freddy was smirking up at him, one brow raised as amusement danced in his eyes. _Oh he looks so goddamned smug,_ Bonnie silently cursed.

Sticking his tongue out at his friend, he slid his foot across the rock to get a better position. Freddy began moving the slab around, as if juggling it between his hands, and Bonnie felt irritation flash through him as it became clear that Freddy was playing with him.

On the sidelines, the others laughed.

 _Joke’s on them, though,_ he thought with a smirk, and before anyone had time to react he kicked off of the stone. He landed roughly on a ledge of the arena’s mountain, rolling closer to the wall of rock.

He managed to jump out of the way just as the stone slab slammed into the mountain above his head, sending down a rain of dust and rocks... and water.

From inside the mountain, water gushed out as the stream on the the inside was released, water spraying out in practically every direction as a rock lodged itself in the hole formed.

 _I can use this to my advantage,_ he thought with a grin, looking down at Freddy. The bear had responded to the new water source by lifting a rock above his head, preventing any of the water from getting on him. The water started pooling up on the ground, too fast for the thick stone to absorb, and Bonnie’s grin widened. _Perfect._

Bonnie leapt down the mountainside, stopping just before the “flood.” Freddy no longer looked smug; quickly the bear raised himself up on a platform a moment before Bonnie sent a bolt of electricity into the water.

Just like that, the entire mountain-section was electrified. Freddy actually looked impressed.

“Stroke of luck,” the bear called over to him, eying the stone under him. Bonnie smirked; it was clear the bear was trying to figure out how to lift the rock _without_ spilling the electrified water on himself. “But you seem to have forgotten one major flaw in this plan of yours.”

“What’s that?” Bonnie asked, raising a brow. Freddy looked up at him again, smirking.

“Look up.”

Hesitantly, Bonnie glanced up... and groaned. “Oh for fuck’s sake!” he complained as he watched the mudslide coming right for him. Gritting his teeth, he leapt up and over the stone mountain, stumbling over the rocks as he tried to get out of the path of the mudslide.

Unfortunately, Bonnie had no such luck; within seconds he was swept up in the mudslide, and for just a moment he felt like he was drowning.

Then he landed hard in the electrified flood. His fur stood up on end, though the electricity had no effect beyond a slight uncomfortable tingling in his skin as it danced through his fur. He groaned, lifting his arms to look at the mud dropping off of his clothes.

“And dead!” Foxy cheered, doubling over in laughter. Bonnie glared over at him as Goldie stood up and went over to a control panel, typing in a few commands. The water stopped spraying out of the mountain and the water slowly drained out of the edges of the arena, Bonnie’s electricity going with it.

Freddy leapt down from his platform and approached Bonnie. “It was a good try,” the bear gave, chuckling as he reached a hand out to Bonnie. “If you’d been prepared for a mudslide, ya might’a beat me.”

Rolling his eyes, Bonnie grabbed onto his hand and let the bear haul him to his feet. “You caused the mudline, didn’t you,” he accused. Freddy’s smirk turned into a grin and Bonnie punched his shoulder. “Jackass!”

“Good fight, Bonnie,” Freddy laughed, wiping the mud out of Bonnie’s hair. “I think you need a shower.”

“Great, you nearly drown me with mud and now you won’t even get it off me,” Bonnie sighed dramatically as their other friends joined them. “You’re so cruel, Freddy.”

“Don’t worry, Bonnie, mud’s a good look on you,” Chica snorted as the group headed towards the showers. “Mrs. Artson’s gonna be pissed you guys broke the mountain though. She’s gonna have to get a mechanic out here to fix the water pipe.”

Bonnie sighed again and threw a muddy arm around Freddy, and ignoring the bear’s disgusted cry said, “Y’hear that Freddy? We’re gonna be in trouble!”

“Mrs. Artson’s gonna rip y’all apart,” Goldie snickered as Freddy shoved Bonnie off of him. Chica gave them a salute before breaking off to the women’s showers, and the four boys headed into the men’s.

“But damn will she be impressed!” Foxy added, grinning as he held his camera up. Bonnie rolled his eyes. “That was yer best game yet, Bon!”

“Call me Bon again and you’re dead,” Bonnie threatened, peeling his muddy clothes off and stepping under the shower. He twisted the knob and the shower started up... “Foxy!”

“What?”

“Stop redirecting my water! I’ve got mud in places that don’t even exist! _Give me my fucking water!”_

“Bonnie, don’t run in the shower-”

“Foxy run!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much fun I had writing the Bonnie versus Freddy battle XD Not sure if you've noticed but I tend to give Freddy little subtle favouritism, as he's, well, Freddy Fazbear... I tend to make him the strongest or the smartest or the leader (or in this case, all three). I figure it's only fair since I spend so much time focusing on rabbits and the Golds instead X'D
> 
> It seems someone is missing this chapter... hmmmm....


	4. Bait and Escape

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates, just been kinda depressive and though these next two chapters have been done for a while I've been feeling some serious anxiety over them! I'm sorry.

_ Step one; Bait them. Lead them on a chase. _

He glanced over his shoulder towards the wolf again. The city streets of Durmont were more busy than his neighborhood and it took the young fledge a few moments more to pick him out among the crowd, but he was satisfied to notice that yes, his pursuer was still there.

_ Step two; Let them know you know. Play with them. Make them mad. _

It wasn’t by far the  _ smartest _ plan, but Blu figured if he was allowing himself to be followed by some creepy guy in purple then he’d get a little fun out of it. He kept his steady pace even as the city faded into the suburbs, and the crowds turned into joggers and people walking their pets.

He threw a glance over his shoulder. The wolf had sped up and was gaining on him. Blu just smirked and, before the wolf knew what was coming, he sprinted away down the street.

_ Step three; Let them see you’re not going down so easily. Be a worthy prize, but do not use any Elements. There’s a chance they might not know. _

The sound of the wolf shouting after him was lost to the wind in his ears, and Blu darted around a corner, just barely managing to sidestep a startled couple. He didn’t slow down, however; he kept his gaze firmly ahead, concentrating on his breathing and the training his father had put him through.

In his mind, he could hear his father giving commands-  _ faster, faster, turn right, watch how you put your foot down, you’ll jog your knee like that, dodge that car!- _ as he ran down the training arena. Despite the sun beating down on his fur, he could even feel the phantom chill in the air settle in his spine, a small shiver running through the rabbit’s body.

_ Step three; Away from prying eyes, allow yourself to be caught. _

A quick glance over his shoulder showed the wolf no longer chasing him, but his wrist was held up to his mouth, eyes on Blu. The teen’s ears twitched;  _ he’s calling back-up, it seems. _

_ Or he’s warning someone up ahead that I’m coming. _

That was fine, Blu thought with a grin; that was the point, after all, of-

“Ach!”

Blu gasped as he ran, full speed, into someone on the sidewalk. It was almost like running into a wall, his momentum thrown back and he stumbled, just barely managing to keep his balance. Quickly his gaze snapped up to whoever he ran into, an apology on the tip of his tongue as he prepared to keep running.

The apology died, however, when he saw crimson eyes staring at him in surprise.

He had run into another rabbit, violet fur and long ears hanging down his back. Blu recognized him from school- it was someone he’d, unsurprisingly, never spoken to, but he had noticed the teen around... especially since he had the locker next to Blu’s.

_ Bonnie Henderson, _ his brain supplied automatically.  _ Electric Pazon, has temperature control. Doesn’t talk to Norands. _

A beat of awkward silence passed between the two classmates before Blu went to step past him, deciding that  _ pretending that didn’t happen is better than trying to speak to him. _ Henderson seemed to agree as he continued walking as well, neither even so much as glancing at each other as they passed.

And then it hit him.

Literally.

Blu’s eyes widened and his hand flew to his neck to yank the dart out of his skin. However, as he looked at it he noticed the container was empty.

Already the world was doubling, and he looked towards the house on his right. Someone- he couldn’t see who or what, even, as the images tripled and overlapped, his vision swimming and fading- lowered a gun.

“Wha-” he heard someone-  _ who? where?- _ start, but Blu knew nothing as his world collapsed into darkness.

* * *

 

The air around him was strangely cold.

Cold wasn’t a feeling he was used to- he preferred to keep things the  _ proper  _ temperature, nice and warm and cozy, so the chill in the air was completely unwelcome and new.

As was the feeling of freezing metal weighing on his wrists and pressing against his fur...

Finally, the violet-furred rabbit forced his eyes open, staring blankly across the room he was in towards a strangely metallic wall. It was so clean and bright he could see his own reflection... and, he noted dimly, the reflection of his companion.

Slowly, Bonnie pushed himself up off of the cold floor, furrowing his brow as he stared at their reflections on the wall. There was no mistaking that bright blue fur or green T-shirt; it was undoubtedly Rodriguez, he knew, and he glanced behind himself towards the rabbit lying on the floor.

Rodriguez’s eyes were closed, but Bonnie could tell he was waking up; he had begun to shift, instinctively attempting to slide one hand across the floor to push himself up. The chain hanging between the cuffs pulled tight and jerked the other, and immediately green eyes snapped open.

Bonnie simply watched in confusion as the Norand stared back at him, surprise and alarm flitting through his eyes before confusion settled.

“Henderson?” the rabbit muttered questioningly, his voice thick with sleep.

“Yep,” Bonnie confirmed, letting his eyes slip past the smaller rabbit to the bars beyond.  _ We’re in a cell,  _ he realized. It wasn’t too large and was made of pure stainless steel. Outside the bars was a small room, equally steel and cold, with a staircase leading up into darkness that he couldn’t see through.

And it was  _ cold. _

Frowning, he mentally reached out to his surroundings and tried to force the temperature to rise. As he did so, however, the cuffs around his wrists began glowing brighter and  _ burned. _

“Ow! Fuck!” he cursed, jerking his hands up from the floor and looking at them, shocked. “What the hell?” Never once had Bonnie felt something like that- that burning pain in his wrists as what he was holding heated up. 

“Orienn steel,” Rodriguez muttered, just barely loud enough for Bonnie to hear, and Bonnie looked over towards the rabbit to find him staring at his own cuffs. They were glowing very dimly, hardly noticeable in the light of the cell.

“What?”

Rodriguez looked up at him, a slight frown on his lips. “Henderson, don’t attempt to use your Powers,” he warned, carefully climbing up to his feet.

“Why not?” Bonnie asked, scowling. “Do you know what it is?”

“Orienn steel,” he repeated, reaching up with both hands and slipping one through the thick curly fur on top of his head. “It’s a combination of metals that neutralizes Powers,” the rabbit expanded, pulling a strangely shaped pin out of his fur. Almost immediately, an unruly curl fell down over his forehead.

“Neutralizes Powers?” Bonnie repeated incredulously, shoving himself to his feet. “But I can still feel-”

“‘Neutralizes’ isn’t the right word,” Rodriguez amended, swiftly bending the metal pin and pulling his hands as far apart as they would go. The entire time he didn’t look at Bonnie, not even once. “More like when you try to use your Power it traps it inside the metal and, well,” he flicked his ear towards Bonnie as he pushed the pin into the hole in the cuffs. “That happens. You’re not immune to anything, so if I were you I wouldn’t try to use Electricity right now,” he added.

Bonnie heard the click and watched as Rodriguez’s cuffs snapped open and fell to the floor, clattering as the blue rabbit made no attempt to slow its fall.

“Inhibitor cuffs?” Bonnie questioned, looking back down at the glowing blue metal on his wrists. “But wait, why would they give  _ you  _ inhibitor cuffs?” he asked sharply, looking at the other strangely. "You're a Norand."

“My best guess,” Rodriguez snorted, bounding over to Bonnie and grabbing his wrist before the taller could protest, “is when they couldn’t find my ID, they put them on me just in case.” Bonnie didn’t move, watching as the blue rabbit fiddled with the cuff and the pin for a few moments. There was a click and then the cuffs snapped open, falling to the floor.

Almost immediately, the pain in his wrists faded and the chill slipped away.

Rubbing his wrists, he frowned down at the rabbit. “You don’t have your ID on you?” he questioned, raising a brow disapprovingly. Rodriguez glanced up at him and shrugged carelessly.

“I was just running to my friend’s house and back,” he informed Bonnie matter-of-factly, turning on his heel and marching over to the cell bars to look closely at them. “I wasn’t going in any stores or anything like that, I didn’t need my ID card.” He slipped his arm between the bars and twisted around, pressing the pin against something on the other side.

Bonnie could only assume it was the cell’s lock.

Sighing, Bonnie approached the smaller rabbit. “You know you’re supposed to always have your ID,” he reminded Rodriguez.

“It’s nice that the first ever conversation you and I ever have is you lecturing me about leaving my ID at home,” Rodriguez sighed, barely glancing over his shoulder towards Bonnie.

He looked amused. Bonnie wasn’t sure if that was a good thing.

“You could’ve been arrested if you were caught without it,” Bonnie deadpanned, shaking his head at the shorter rabbit.

“And ain’t that just messed up,” Rodriguez hummed, pulling back as the cell door swung open. He turned to look at Bonnie, one brow raised questioningly. “If they can’t instantly identify that I’m a Norand, I get arrested. And likewise, if they can’t instantly identify that  _ you’re  _ a Pazon,  _ you  _ get arrested.” Almost carelessly, Rodriguez bent the pin back into shape and pushed that annoying curl away from his forehead, slipping the pin into its place. “Now, how about we get out of here before we actually get killed or something?”

Bonnie let out a sigh, pushed the cell door open further and headed out. The footsteps behind him told him that his classmate was following.

“It’s just the way things are,” Bonnie answered, taking the steps two at a time. When he reached the shadows, however, he paused; it wasn’t getting any lighter.

“Hold up your hands,” Rodriguez suddenly started, prompting Bonnie to look back at him.

“What?”

“Like this,” he explained, lifting his own hands up in front of himself, his palms facing each other. “Make a lightning ball.”

Bonnie raised a brow.  _ How do you know I can do that? _

Instead of questioning it, however, he turned back to the shadows and did as Rodriguez instructed, lifting his hands and creating a carefully-contained ball of Electricity between both palms. Instantly, the shadows lit up and Bonnie could see up the final fifteen steps and to the door beyond.

With his lightning ball lamp, Bonnie continued up the steps and Rodriguez followed him. Without warning, though, Rodriguez slipped between Bonnie and the wall, darting around him as they reached the door at the top, and Bonnie had to bite back a curse at the sudden action.

“Be careful,” he hissed, regaining his balance and watching as Rodriguez set a hand on the doorknob.

“Drop the lightning,” was what the rabbit responded with, and Bonnie clenched his teeth in frustration.

_ Why am I listening to a Norand? What’s even  _ going on  _ here- where  _ are  _ we?  _ He let the Electricity fade, plunging them into darkness again.  _ Woke up in a cell with inhibitor cuffs on... what was I doing before though? _

It took only a second to remember. He watched as Rodriguez carefully cracked the door open and peeked out into the hallway, frowning.  _ I was on my way home from practice when I literally ran into Rodriguez. _

He remembered that. He had been watching the clouds, thinking about everything that he had learned at practice that day, when the smaller rabbit ran straight into him and stumbled back. It had surprised Bonnie and he had instinctively stopped.

He remembered finding green eyes blinking up at him, equally surprised, and the familiar blue fur of his Norand classmate and locker neighbor.

He remembered both of them backing away and each going to walk around each other without a single word or apology exchanged.

Norands and Pazons don’t socialize. That was the silent rule- and Bonnie and Rodriguez both adhered to that silent rule as any other Pazon and Norand would. So of course the response to accidentally running into each other was to pretend that it hadn’t happened at all.

It was  _ after  _ that that Bonnie couldn’t remember.

_ I was walking past him... and then I was waking up five feet from him in a cell. _

_ We were kidnapped? _

“Hey, Pazon,” a voice hissed at him, pulling Bonnie out of his thoughts. He looked up towards Rodriguez who was standing right outside the door, looking somewhat annoyed. “If you’re done thinking, let’s go- someone’s bound to come looking for us.”

_ We were kidnapped and he isn’t confused at all. _

_ He was running. _

Bonnie scowled and hurried after the shorter rabbit, glancing at him. “You know exactly what’s going on here,” he accused lowly.

“I have no clue,” Rodriguez denied, shrugging and carefully closing the door behind them. “All I know is that panicking isn’t gonna help either of us.” With that said, he took a sharp turn left.

“Where are you going?” Bonnie questioned, going to follow the rabbit. “We have no idea where the exit is.”

“No, we don’t,” Rodriguez agreed, “but we have to try and find it, and right is way too predictable. Plus, haven’t you ever heard of hugging the left wall?” he added almost airily, glancing around. Bonnie frowned, eyes flickering down the hall.

_ It’s really quiet and empty in here. _

“No, I haven’t,” he muttered, glancing behind himself.  _ If we were kidnapped, security is very lax. Then again, with those cuffs they probably didn’t expect us to escape. _

_ Wait- how did  _ Rodriguez  _ know how to get out of cuffs? _

He considered that question for just a moment, staring at the back of the rabbit’s head.  _ Nevermind,  _ he quickly decided, _ I don’t think I actually wanna know. _

Suddenly, a siren blared through the facility, causing both rabbits to pause and look up. Above them a red light flashed rapidly, reflecting off of the walls and bathing the entire hall in red. Immediately footsteps sounded around the hall and a voice screeched in a language Bonnie couldn’t understand.

“Well that didn’t last long,” Rodriguez noted with an irritated sigh, looking towards Bonnie. “Take my advice;  _ run!” _

Then the rabbit took off, hardly giving Bonnie a chance to register his words.

“Stop!” someone shrieked behind him and something that sounded suspiciously like an energy charge whined. Bonnie immediately darted after his Norand classmate, instinctively pulling up an Electric field between their backs and their attackers.

As he turned the corner with Rodriguez, something slammed into the field and exploded.

_ These people are trying to kill us! _

_ What the  _ fuck?!

Rodriguez shoved a door ahead of them open and Bonnie, without really thinking about it, followed. When he was inside, Bonnie slammed the door shut, and upon noticing there was no lock he grabbed the handle, mentally reaching out to the metal and concentrating on its temperature, mentally tugging on it.

When he let go, it practically glowed red.

Backing away from the door he glanced around. They were standing in a medium sized room with what looked oddly enough like sparring dummies lined against a wall; padded mats were spread out over the floor, a marker board was attached to the wall next to the door with large letters spelling out words Bonnie didn’t recognize, and a table shoved into the corner had papers spread out across it and a whistle with its cord hanging down over the edge sitting on top of it all.

The most important thing, however, were the windows set into the wall, dim pale light filtering through the frosted glass. Snow lined the windowsill.

_ It’s August. _

Rodriguez was studying the windows as well, Bonnie noticed, his brows drawn together as he clearly considered what to do. Bonnie was about to say something when someone slammed into the door, causing the Pazon to jerk away from it in surprise. However, the doorknob hardly moved before a pained shriek sounded from the other side and Bonnie smirked slightly.

_ Score one for me, bitches. _

“Henderson!” Rodriguez suddenly called, looking over towards him, and Bonnie turned to face the Norand. “Help me break a window!”

Bonnie raised a brow and glanced around. Nothing stood out to him as good for breaking a window and he sure as hell wasn’t about to use his hands- and, he knew, there was no way the Norand would, either.

They definitely didn’t have the medical supplies for  _ that. _

Making a quick decision, Bonnie bounded over to one of the training dummies and picked it up. It was heavy and it was a bit of an effort, but it was the only thing in the immediate vicinity that he could even begin to  _ imagine  _ breaking the window.

Well, aside from the table but that’d be even harder to deal with than the training dummy and the markerboard was a bit attached to the wall. Freddy could pull that off but Bonnie definitely could  _ not. _

Rodriguez took several steps back from the window as Bonnie chucked the dummy at it, and it was a good thing he did; the window immediately shattered as the dummy flew right through, falling both inside and outside the window in tiny, jagged pieces. The cold slammed into the two rabbits and snow riding on the wind fluttered inside, but neither rabbit could concern themselves with the cold right then.

The banging on the door became harder and Bonnie knew the handle was rapidly cooling in the frosty air as he climbed up on the windowsill and leapt out. His feet sunk into the snow, but the chill didn’t bother him; he simply concentrated on himself, keeping his own body’s temperature steady.

Rodriguez landed beside him and stumbled in the snow, but the rabbit didn’t give himself much time to adjust before he began moving. Bonnie watched the Norand struggle through the snow for a few moments, brow furrowed as he noted  _ something _ strange about the sight, before he hurried after as fast as the deep snow would allow.

He couldn’t hear anything over the howling of the wind.

When he reached the Norand, he grabbed him by the shoulder- he could practically  _ see  _ the ice forming in the rabbit’s fur already- and ignored the way Rodriguez jumped and looked at him. Apparently Bonnie’s intention was clear to the Norand; he didn’t fuss, simply turning back forward.

The two teens went as fast as they could, soon blissfully finding steadier stone and hurrying along that instead of fighting their way through the snowdrift. If they were lucky, Bonnie knew, the people in that building-  _ the people who kidnapped us-  _ wouldn’t dare follow them. It was freezing cold and, Bonnie mused, anyone who was out in it  _ obviously  _ had a death wish.

Anyone except Bonnie, anyway.

And Rodriguez.

Maybe.

_ That depends. _

“We’re on Mount Sabia,” Rodriguez suddenly said, voice barely audible over the wind. Bonnie raised a brow at him.

“How do you know?” he practically had to shout so the other rabbit could hear him over the wind.

“Because the Twin Peaks are right up there,” Rodriguez answered, pointing upwards. Bonnie followed his hand and found that he was right; towering over them, barely visible through the swirling snow, was what were commonly known as the Twin Peaks, two jutting, jagged peaks that had, according to scientists who had studied the mountain, been one single mountain before something caused it to divide.

Bonnie and his friends had always assumed it to be Earth Elementals, but they were Pazons. Their opinion in the matters of science were unwanted.

“Okay,” he gave, glancing towards Rodriguez. “That means we’re nearly two hours from Durmont! The hell are we supposed to do now?”

“My family has a cabin up here,” Rodriguez revealed, looking around suddenly. Bonnie wondered, briefly, if he was searching for said cabin. “It’s further down than this, though- the mountain’s full of caves, if we hide out in one until this storm is over and until those people stop looking for us we can go down to the cabin and I can call someone to come get us.”

“This storm could last for days, Rodriguez,” Bonnie pointed out, tightening his grip on the shorter rabbit’s shoulder. “And what if those people find us in a cave, where we’re  _ trapped?” _

“Not all caves are obvious,” Rodriguez hummed, abruptly walking away from Bonnie. He scrambled to follow the rabbit,  _ so  _ not wanting his classmate’s potential freezing-to-death death to be on his hands. After a minute or so of walking, the blue rabbit paused and knelt down, shoving snow and ice aside. Bonnie watched as frozen water crashed inwards, falling several feet until it hit the ground. “This one’s not obvious.”

“Yet you noticed it,” Bonnie pointed out, frowning. “If they’re looking for caves, they'll notice it.”

“Not if we cover the entrance with ice- solid ice,” Rodriguez added, looking over at Bonnie.

“If you haven’t noticed,” Bonnie started, shaking his head, “I’m an Electric Elemental, not Water. I can’t just  _ freeze _ water.”

“But you  _ can  _ rapidly heat and cool things,” Rodriguez shot back, slipping into the cave and dropping down. Bonnie scowled.

“That’s easier said than done,” Bonnie protested, but he knew he had no choice but to follow the Norand. He was starting to notice a pattern there.

_ Honestly,  _ he thought as he slipped down after the rabbit, landing steadily on his feet,  _ we’re Pazons, not wonder workers. _

_ But what else can you expect from a Fledge worshipper... _

“Just give it a try,” the shorter rabbit sighed, leaning against the cave wall and crossing his arms. He subtly moved his arms, as if attempting to keep himself warm.

Bonnie glanced at him, frowning; the Norand was wearing nothing but a T-shirt and blue-jeans with tennis shoes. There was no doubt in his mind that the rabbit was absolutely freezing.

_ If I weren’t here he’d totally freeze to death,  _ he mused, sighing and turning back to the uncovered portion of the entrance. It wasn’t a large entrance, to be honest, barely big enough for Bonnie to slide through, but it was still an entrance nonetheless.

_ Fine,  _ he thought,  _ I’ll give it a try.  _ He was a bit curious to see if he could do it, anyway.

With that decided, he concentrated on the air around and right outside the entrance. Then he mentally yanked on it, feeling the temperature shoot up as he did, and as the Norand had predicted the ice and snow hanging above the entrance turned to water and slush all in one moment. It began to cascade down the stones and Bonnie mentally shoved the air back down, the air dropping to an even colder temperature than the mountain air around, and the water and slush froze instantly before any of it could hit the cave floor.

Immediately the snow began piling up against the ice, and Bonnie realized that all signs of the entrance would be completely erased within minutes.

“Awesome,” Rodriguez called, his voice echoing around the cave, and Bonnie turned to look at the  _ very smug looking  _ Norand.

“For a Norand you know a lot about this Power thing,” Bonnie accused. Rodriguez just shrugged and dropped down onto the cave floor, leaning against the wall.

“I know theory,” he excused, absently rubbing at his arms. “I have Pazon relatives, so I know how this stuff works.”

_ That  _ got Bonnie’s attention. He blinked in surprise and frowned. “You have Pazon relatives?” he repeated.

“Yeah,” Rodriguez confirmed, glancing towards him with one slightly cocked brow. “Don’t look so surprised, almost all Norands do. Pazons have Norand children, Norands have Pazon children- it’s really common, actually.”

“Huh,” Bonnie muttered, walking over to the Norand. “Not in my family.”

“Pureblooded Pazon, then?”

“Yep,” he answered with a nod, dropping down next to Rodriguez. "Mom's a Pazon, dad's a Pazon, grandparents are all Pazons, aunts and uncles are Pazons, cousins are Pazons, pretty much everyone within the last forty generations are." He concentrated on the air directly around them, mentally tugging on it to steadily raise it to a more comfortable temperature. As he did he noticed Rodriguez’s hands still.

The Norand was simply staring up at the cave ceiling.

The light faded as the entrance was buried from sight.

“Then you know nothing about Norands,” was all Rodriguez said in response.

“I know enough to know you’re strange for a Norand,” Bonnie retorted without missing a beat. “This is why they avoid you and your friends, isn’t it?”

“You could say we’re a breed all our own,” Rodriguez snorted, though Bonnie could no longer see his expression in the darkness. “We’re perfectly normal Norands,” Rodriguez continued, his voice softer. “We just don’t believe the same things the rest of them do.”

“You’re still strange,” Bonnie muttered, shaking his head and leaning back against the stone. He couldn’t even hear the wind outside anymore; all he could hear was the silence and his unexpected companion’s breathing. “Why were you running?”

“I was late.”

“You’re lying.”

“Henderson.” Bonnie didn’t bother looking at the rabbit. His eyes hadn’t adjusted yet. “I was late to something, so I was running. Just accept it like you’ve accepted everything else in your life.”

_ What’s that supposed to mean? _

“It’s hard to accept that when I just woke up in a cell on Mount Sabia five feet from you,” he countered, shaking his head slightly despite knowing that Rodriguez couldn't see him. “And you seem to know all too well what the hell’s going on. You knew that room would have windows.”

“I took a gamble and it paid off.”

“You’re a liar.”

The two rabbits fell into silence, neither saying another word.

The Norand didn't even try to deny his accusation.

It didn’t make Bonnie feel any better.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was mostly stuff you’ve already read, if you’ve read the Oneshot Collection (with some minor changes in wording and I changed the story to take place in August rather than September), so I’m posting 2 chapters at once. They’re two chapters of content found in the Oneshot collection, with some original content inside, so yeah.


	5. Awkward Situations and Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter was originally gonna have an adrenaline-fuelled sex scene and it still does, but it focuses more on senses rather than description as neither Bonnie nor Blu are thinking straight, seeing as it’s... well... adrenaline-fuelled. And anyone who has ever had an adrenaline rush knows that adrenaline can fuck your brain up for a bit. Sorry to disappoint but if you're looking for something akin to lemons it's best to actually read a lemon and not a fic with plot XD

Blu wasn’t quite sure how he fell asleep or when, but some time later- the next morning, perhaps, or later that day? He wasn’t quite sure- he found himself blinking awake in the darkness of the cave. Wondering what could have woken him up, Blu glanced around.

Next to him Henderson seemed to have settled down for a nap, so he scanned the cave for any sign of what else could have woken him up. Carefully he stood up, using the wall as support, and twitched his ears around. For a moment he could swear he heard a...  _ scraping _ sound. 

His eyes snapped over to the iced-over entrance, narrowing slightly in suspicion.  _ Is it...? _

Closing his eyes he focused on the earth around him, on the ice and snow outside, on the very air itself. The earth mapped itself out under, over and around him, and he easily felt the snow on top... and it was shifting. There was a weight that didn’t belong, and the motion it made through the air suggested whatever-  _ whoever- _ it was was shoveling snow away from the buried entrance of the cave.

Cursing silently, Blu turned to Henderson and kicked his shoe. Henderson snapped awake almost immediately, alert, and looked around sharply. “What?” the rabbit sighed, relaxing slightly upon noticing it was just him.

“Shh,” Blu hissed, pointing towards the entrance. “Listen.”

Henderson’s ear perked slightly, and in the silence that fell the clear sound of a shovel striking ice reached them. His eyes narrowed and he was on his feet in seconds, grabbing Blu’s arm and practically dragging him to the back of the cave. 

“Hey, watch it, Henderson,” he grumbled even as the Pazon pushed him into what appeared to be a nook in the wall. Stumbling, Blu caught himself on the wall, but he didn’t have a chance to even try and get comfortable as Henderson slipped into the small space behind him, trapping Blu between himself and the wall. 

Blu hadn’t even noticed the nook before, but Henderson hadn’t even hesitated to shove him in there.  _ He must have looked around after I fell asleep... _

Neither rabbit said anything as the ice finally shattered and something dropped into the cavern. Hopefully, Blu mused as he instinctively held his breath, the nook was small enough to not be noticed.  _ They used a shovel to break the ice so I doubt they’re a Pazon. A Pazon would have done it elseway... _

Then whoever it was began walking around and Blu tensed up, ears flat.

_ We’re totally cornered. _

The two rabbits stayed tense and still, neither daring to move even an inch as the footsteps echoed around the cavern, getting ever closer, so Blu found himself stuck against the stone wall, back to Henderson’s chest.

Henderson’s heart was racing, he noticed, but he could hardly process it past the rush of blood in his own ears. Part of him was afraid the person in the cave with them would hear it- the sound of his blood pumping, his heart racing, his lungs screaming for air...

He was hyper aware of how  _ screwed _ they potentially were- if they were found, what if _whoever_ called for backup?  


_ I should do something, _ he suddenly thought, his hands tightening into fists against the stone. He could practically feel it breathing, itching to bend to his will. Through it he could feel each footfall, every skittering stone, every breath the person took...  _ With a flick of my hand I can get rid of him... _

But he couldn’t. Not with Henderson there- too many questions, not enough answers.

_ If it’s between revealing your secret and  _ dying _ then it’s no contest! _

His heart raced and he closed his eyes.  _ This was not supposed to happen. _

Then the footsteps stopped and behind him Henderson tensed. Blu bit down on his lip, afraid to look and see what was happening, but he could  _ feel _ that Henderson was prepared to attack. Blu could feel the heat in the Pazon’s body- could feel the static flaring up around them, ready to yield to its master’s demands, and it prickled uncomfortably at Blu’s skin, feeling warmer than it had any right to.

The earth beneath his own fingertips seemed to vibrate, just as eager to aid him as the static was to aid Henderson. He curled his fingers into the stone, silently steadying himself for a fight.

However, despite being only a mere foot away, the person turned around and went back towards the entrance, swiftly pulling themself up and out, and they were gone. Slowly, the static faded and the earth seemed to stop humming, but still neither rabbit dared to move- neither rabbit dared to hardly even breathe.

Blu opened his eyes and glanced out into the dim cavern. Above, through the snow, he could feel the hunter’s feet carrying him further away- and then he was gone, beyond Blu’s reach, and Blu felt himself finally relax as the threat disappeared.

The Pazon let out the breath he was holding and it ghosted across Blu’s much-cooler fur, tickling his neck in a way that wasn’t entirely unpleasant. 

Now he was uncomfortably warm and his heart was still beating too fast.

“Well that was tense,” Henderson muttered, pushing himself away from both the wall and Blu, back into the more spacious cavern. “I have no idea how you stay so calm, Rodriguez.”

“Calm?” Blu laughed, leaning his forehead against the wall. He felt shaky, like he would collapse if he stepped away. “What do you mean  _ calm? _ I’m scared to  _ death _ right now,” he admitted, glancing back towards the Pazon.

Henderson was watching him with an odd expression on his face, but he didn’t seem accusing or disbelieving. “You didn’t seem like it earlier,” the rabbit commented. Blu pushed himself away from the wall and stepped out of the nook, hoping the dim light would hide the burning in his face.

His heart was still beating way too fast...

“I like to play it cool,” he told the rabbit, crossing his arms over his chest. “Being level-headed is a, uh, much better idea than...” he trailed off, completely unsure of what he was even saying. "Than..."  


_ Have his eyes always been that red? _ he wondered, watching Henderson quietly. The taller rabbit was watching him back, and Blu noticed he had tensed up again at some point, his right hand clenching and unclenching at random... as if he was trying to distract himself.

From what, though, Blu didn’t know... but he wanted to.

Something seemed to twist around inside and Blu didn’t know if whatever he was feeling was real or if it was the rush of adrenaline in his system, but he just couldn’t... think straight.

Blu didn’t want to admit that the other rabbit was attractive- he’d known that for years, but he had never given it much thought before then. It had never really been a big deal to Blu, though- he had never had to interact with Henderson before.

Having him standing right in front of him, not even two feet away and looking right back at him... that was different. And his thoughts were betraying him.

_ He’s tall, _ Blu’s brain stupidly pointed out.  _ And strong. Did you even feel how he had you against the wall? Ha, imagine if he- _

Instinctively, Blu lifted a hand to his face to try and chase the sudden thoughts away. Henderson raised a brow at him.

“You look tense,” the other rabbit noted, though his tone was surprisingly low.

It definitely didn’t help Blu’s sudden predicament.

“Right back at’cha,” Blu laughed nervously, dropping his hand to rub at his chest. His heart was beating  _ way _ too fast, he knew- and for some reason his proximity to the Pazon he had never spoken to before that day only made it worse. 

It was getting hard to breathe.

The silence that fell between them only made it that much more tense.  _ Adrenaline, Blu, it’s just adrenaline, _ his common sense whispered but he couldn’t really hear it over the rush of blood in his ears.  _ Is he closer? Am I?  _

He laughed awkwardly. Henderson chuckled nervously. And then Blu didn’t know what was happening.

Nor did he particularly care; there were warm hands on his hips, his own fingers curled into thick fur, lips pressed almost roughly against his, he found himself with his back against the wall, his mind was racing and  _ I like this. _

That was all that mattered to Blu, even as the older rabbit tugged on his shirt. It was thrilling and exciting, even through the fire he felt in his veins, and then the Pazon’s lips moved away to nip at his neck and Blu practically melted at the feeling, pressing himself eagerly against Henderson.

He felt hands trailing down but he also felt fur between his own fingers, skin beneath his claws, and then his nails caught on Henderson’s shirt and something was tossed aside- Blu didn’t know if he tossed it or Bonnie did, he couldn’t figure out who was where anymore  _ and what a strange sensation this is _ and it was okay because he  _ wanted this _ and he was hot, too hot, but wanted more and Bonnie was so warm-

A hand on his hip, another on his thigh and teeth grazing his shoulder and he didn’t realize until his legs wrapped around Bonnie that he was no longer standing and Bonnie held him against the wall, and his claws dug into Bonnie’s shoulders and  _ when did he lose the shirt _ but he didn’t care, tilting his head back against the wall as Bonnie bit down a little too hard but it was okay, it was good, and he let out a low gasping moan as Bonnie pressed into him, instinctively tensing up at the feeling.

But then Bonnie’s hands were rubbing gentle circles in his fur and he felt himself relax again, his claws letting up on Bonnie’s shoulders and there was relief, a tongue gently licking his shoulder but he didn’t open his eyes. His heart was racing and he was burning and yes pain but as Bonnie shifted and began to move he found that  _ this feels good _ even though it hurt and he wanted to feel  _ more _ but he couldn’t get any words out, only low moans as his grip on Bonnie’s shoulders tightened again.

Bonnie didn’t seem to mind the claws digging into his skin, simply pulling Blu closer to him and Blu loved the way he moved, as if he needed this as much as Blu was sure he himself did  _ or do I really? _

It wasn’t the most perfect thing in the world- certainly not the way Blu thought his first time would be, with someone he didn’t really know miles away from civilization with the possibility of being caught by an enemy  _ and doesn’t that just make it more exciting _ in a cave of all things- but for some reason that just made it  _ better _ and he couldn’t help but beg for more, at least he thought that was what he was doing as he really couldn’t hear himself anymore- he could have been screaming in Spanish and he wouldn’t know. He couldn’t even figure out where he ended and Bonnie began but it didn’t matter at that moment and that was fine.

And then as abruptly as it had begun it was over and Blu felt weak and tired, his body trembling as he clung to his companion, breathing ragged and uneven and Bonnie was breathing just as heavily, holding him there before pulling back, and Blu let his legs slip away and his feet were back on the ground. 

The Pazon didn’t let go of him, which Blu was glad for as he wasn’t sure he could stand on his own right then, but instead the two rabbits slipped to the ground still holding onto each other, and Blu was practically in Bonnie’s lap as they sat on the cave floor. Neither said anything, instead focusing on their breathing rather than what had just happened.

As the adrenaline began fading, all Blu could think was,  _ This is gonna be awkward... _

* * *

 

Bonnie, for one, had no idea what to do now. He and Rodriguez-  _ Bonito? Why the hell did I just fuck someone I’m not even on first name terms with?!- _ were sitting side-by-side in the cave, fully dressed again and not touching in any capacity, not daring to even look at each other as the silence stretched on between them.

It had been very awkward and it still was, both rabbits flushed red as the gravity of what had just happened came down on them. It was so easy to dismiss it as just adrenaline-  _ because it was!- _ but Bonnie still couldn’t excuse himself for it, knowing damn well he should have had better self control.

_ Shouldn’t’ve been so close... _

He had thought that they would just survive the mountain, get home to Durmont, and then never speak again, but now... he wasn’t sure. Maybe they  _ would _ never speak again- the other rabbit was a Norand, after all- but part of Bonnie couldn’t help but think how  _ wrong _ that would be- not after what had just happened.

No matter how many times he told himself it was the heat of the moment.

Finally, he let out a breath and turned to look at Rodriguez- Bonito?- and said, “Rodriguez-”

“And you just made it ten times more awkward,” the blue rabbit interrupted, glancing up at him. “Thanks for the reminder.”

“Reminder?” Bonnie furrowed his brow, confused. “What?”

“That we weren’t even on speaking terms before this.”

_ Translation: That I just fucked a near stranger. _

“Oh. Right. Sorry.” He rubbed his forehead, closing his eyes. “Look, I’m sorry- I didn’t mean to... this wasn’t supposed to... I didn’t...”  _ What am I even trying to say?! _ “I-”

“I get it,” the other cut him off, though he didn’t sound angry or upset. In fact, Bonnie couldn’t help but think he was trying to save Bonnie from the awkward apology. “I’m sorry too.”

“What?” Bonnie raised a brow as Bonito turned to really look at him. “I don’t think you have any reason to be sorry, Rodriguez.”

“Don’t forget it takes two to tango,” he reminded Bonnie, and Bonnie flushed even darker red at his words. If Bonito noticed, he didn’t mention it. “It’s not like you forced me. Besides, it was just adrenaline, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Bonnie agreed quickly. “Adrenaline. Still-”

“So don’t blame yourself, Henderson.”

“Okay yeah, that  _ is _ awkward now,” Bonnie sighed, pressing a hand over his eyes. “Just call me Bonnie, I guess.”

There was a moment of silence before Bonito said, “Then call me Blu.”

“Isn’t that what your friends call you?” Bonnie asked, dropping his hand back into his lap and looking back at his companion. Bonito- Blu?- just shrugged.

“I don’t like my first name,” he told Bonnie. “Only my parents use it. I think it’s stupid- how would  _ you _ feel if your parents literally named you ‘beautiful’?”

“Yeah, I can see how that would be weird,” Bonnie admitted, reaching up and scratching at his ear awkwardly, “but I was under the impression that as a name “Bonito” had a different meaning.”

“Does it matter?” Blu snorted, leaning back against the wall. “Everyone’s first comment is always, without fail, ‘your name is Beautiful? Seriously?’ So I cut out the middleman and just go by Blu.”

“I can respect that.”

“I’m glad.” 

The two rabbits fell into silence again, neither sure what to say. After a few seconds, though, Blu suddenly said, “I’m surprised you’re not more concerned about the fact that I’m a Norand.”

“Not everything has to be about race, Blu.”  _ But of course that isn’t completely true, now is it? _ Bonnie silently told himself, because that  _ had _ been one of his thoughts after everything had calmed down, and that was the biggest reason he and Blu had never spoken before they woke up in that cell together. Maybe even the only reason.

Blu hummed softly, whether in agreement or acknowledgment Bonnie couldn’t tell, before he abruptly stood up. “We should get going,” he decided, looking down at Bonnie. “The storm’s calmed down, we should go before they get some Earthies down here searching.”

“Earthies?” Bonnie parroted, watching in disbelief as the smaller rabbit headed towards the entrance. “Did you seriously just- never mind,” he sighed, standing up and following after Blu. He watched, curiously, as Blu seemed to almost expertly climb up the wall, pulling himself up over the edge and out of the cavern. 

When he pulled himself out of the cave Blu was standing there, looking around. The mountain was calm and the coast was clear, Bonnie could see as he stood up.

“This way,” Blu instructed, pointing towards a mountain path. Bonnie eyed the path.

“That’s pretty open,” he observed as they began walking down the mountain. He hesitated a moment before reaching forward and grabbing Blu’s arm, concentrating on keeping his temperature normal and not dead-within-twenty-minutes cold. “You know we’re probably gonna be spotted, right?”

“Maybe,” Blu agreed. “We’ll just have to be quick.”

They fell into silence as they hurried down the path, neither quite running but not just casually strolling along, either. The further they got from that cave, however, Bonnie felt himself becoming more and more comfortable with the silence. He wasn’t sure how far they had walked or how long it had been before Blu suddenly turned off of the path.

“Where are we going?” Bonnie asked, eying the rocky, snow-covered ground they were walking on. 

“My family cabin,” Blu answered chipperly. “Remember? It’s down this way.”

“Off the path?”

“If it was  _ on _ the path then people would find it too easily.” Bonnie raised a brow, looking at him.

“Why would that be a problem?” he questioned suspiciously. “You know, besides right now where being found easily will probably get us killed.”

“We value our privacy,” Blu stated matter-of-factly, the ghost of a smile tugging at his lips. “Besides, we usually come up here for church activities, and everyone knows the Society’s activities have to be away from outsider eyes.”

Bonnie raised both brows at his words. “So you’re essentially leading me to a place you practice your religion at.”

“Yep. You’ll be the first outsider to see it, so consider yourself lucky.”

_ Your religion is whacked! _ he thought but bit his tongue to keep from saying aloud. Best not to offend his companion... “Won’t you get in trouble for that?”

“It’s just a cabin,” Blu laughed, shaking his head. “You just can’t go into the temple, the cabin itself is fine. Besides,” he added, glancing at Bonnie, “so long as you keep this between you, me and Spring when he picks us up, no one has to know.”

“You’re crazy,” Bonnie sighed, running a hand through the thick fur on his head.  _ How did I get myself into this mess... _ “How far is this goddamned cabin, anyway?”

“That depends, long or short way?” Blu hummed, sending Bonnie a sidelong look. Bonnie raised a brow.

“Whichever one we’re on right now. Which I’m hoping is the latter, by the way.”

“Twenty minute walk without breaks,” Blu told him, turning his gaze back to the ground in front of him. “Can cut that time in half if you wanna run.”

“I’m done with running,” Bonnie told him, glancing towards the drop off nearby. “I don’t wanna die today so I’m not running unless I have to.”

Fate, it would seem, did not like Bonnie that day.

As he said those words, a strange sound began to fill the air. Pausing, Bonnie looked over his shoulder. 

“What was that?” Blu muttered as Bonnie scanned their surroundings.

The snow might not have been falling anymore but it laid in layers upon the ground, the only disturbance being Bonnie and Blu’s path- a very traceable path. The air was still and quiet, but from somewhere- where exactly, Bonnie couldn’t figure out- came a low growl.

“I don’t know but I don’t like it,” Bonnie decided, grip tightening on Blu’s arm. “Just keep going.”

The rabbit didn’t argue as they began walking again, their pace quickening only slightly. The growling followed them and Bonnie was starting to become  _ very  _ concerned. He was just about to suggest they risk the fall in order to put more distance between themselves and the sound when he realized it was coming from  _ in front _ of them.

Then something leapt out of the snow and both rabbits, startled, stumbled and jerked back.

Standing in their path was a  _ wolf. _

_ A wolf. _

As in, fangs bared, four-pawed, sharp-clawed wolf.

On a snowy mountain.

_ We have coyotes here, not wolves. _

Bonnie immediately raised his hand, shoving forward with all of his strength a bolt of Electricity. It didn’t reach the wolf; instead, it collided with an Electric wall and a woman appeared out of the snow, a grin on her face and her hand lit up with Electricity of her own.

In that moment, Bonnie knew they were fucked.  _ Electricity versus Electricity  _ and  _ wolves is very bad odds for us. _

With a sinister smile, the lady pointed her non-Electrified hand at them and said, “Sic ‘em, Pet.”

The wolf snarled and lunged, but Bonnie grabbed Blu’s arm again and darted off of the more-solid rocks and into the softer snow. Blu yelped in surprise but did not protest as Bonnie dragged him along.

“Don’t lose them!” the woman called to the wolf who was, undoubtedly, following them. Bonnie concentrated on the snow beneath their feet, causing it to melt as they ran across it and quickly freezing it again once it was behind them- but he knew he couldn’t keep that up forever, hot and cold were complete opposites, he couldn’t sustain the switch-off forever.

“Bonnie, not this way!” Blu warned him. “There’s a dead end!”

“Not sure if you’ve noticed,” Bonnie started, glancing over his shoulder, “but there’s nowhere we  _ can  _ go!”

And that wasn’t an exaggeration. On one side was the sheer drop and on the other was a steep incline that the wolf would get up long before Bonnie and Blu could; straight was the only direction they  _ could  _ go.

“Well we have to risk  _ something  _ or else we’ll-” Blu’s words were cut off as something collided with them, sending them both tumbling across the snow. The ground gave way beneath them and Bonnie bit back a yelp of his own as they rolled down a freezing, ice-roughed decline.

They landed in a heap at the bottom of the unexpected hill and Bonnie groaned, his body aching from the bumpy fall. Blu, who had landed across Bonnie’s stomach, whined pathetically as he attempted to push himself up. His hands slipped in the snow and he fell down again, his elbow landing oh so perfectly against Bonnie’s gut.

With a yelp, Bonnie grabbed Blu and pushed him off. “Careful, geez,” Bonnie hissed, sitting up. Blu grabbed his arm and used him as leverage to pull himself up as Bonnie looked up the incline.

The wolf stared down at them with burning amber eyes and Bonnie could have sworn it was  _ grinning. _

Bonnie shoved himself to his feet, unwittingly dragging Blu with him, and turned around-

To find himself face to face with a wall.

They had fallen into a hole.

A shallow cave.

“Fuck,” he hissed, looking back at the wolf as it made its way down. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck  _ fuck.” _

_ I knew we’d be out in the open, but a fucking wolf?! _

Blu’s grip on his arm tightened as they backed up against the wall. “This is bad,” he noted, voice wavering slightly and much more high-pitched than it had been before. Bonnie held his hand up again, letting Electricity light up in his palm, but then three more wolves and the woman appeared at the top of the cave.

“We’re dead,” Bonnie stated flatly upon noticing them, letting his Electricity fade. He could only do so much against another Electric Elemental.

The first wolf lost its footing and tumbled to the ground with a yelp. It struggled up to its feet, slipping on the ice, but the other three were siddling on down now.

“Bonnie,” Blu suddenly started, his voice uncharacteristically low and serious. “How good are you at keeping secrets?”

“If it’s a secret that will save our lives,” Bonnie started, “then I’m  _ really fucking good  _ at keeping secrets.”

“Then make a smokescreen between us and the woman.”

It was practically a command but at that point Bonnie wasn’t about to question it. The wolf at the bottom of the incline was still trying to catch its footing but it was only a matter of time. Bonnie’s eyes briefly met the woman’s before he mentally reached out, gripped the air and  _ yanked  _ on it.

The temperature in the cave instantly heated up, especially right between Bonnie and the closest wolf, and the snow didn’t even melt- it turned straight to steam.

The moment their view of the woman was obscured-  _ we have to be quick, the snow and ice keeping that wolf down is gone-  _ Blu released Bonnie’s arm and whirled around. Bonnie glanced over, somewhat alarmed, at his classmate, but before he could say anything the smaller rabbit slammed his foot against the wall-

And the wall collapsed  _ into  _ the ground.

Bonnie’s eyes widened as Blu grabbed him and dragged him through the now-opened wall. The wolf, finally standing steadily, snarled and leapt at them, but Blu spun around, sweeping his hand through the air, and somehow the steam turned straight back to ice.

There was a bodily thump and a muffled yelp from the other side of the ice wall before Blu pressed his foot into the ground and slid it sideways, and then the cave wall shot back up- as though it had never gone away.

But they were on the other side.

“Come on, it doesn’t take a genius to see what happened here,” Blu hissed, tugging on Bonnie’s arm. Bonnie allowed the rabbit to drag him along, the smaller rabbit’s other hand pressed against the wall. He watched as the walls formed tunnels before falling back into place, effortlessly and without any sign of having ever moved in the first place.

He couldn’t believe it.

“You’re a Pazon,” Bonnie uttered, looking at Blu in shock. “You’re-”

“I’m not a Pazon,” Blu interrupted in a clipped tone.

“You’re not a Norand,” Bonnie countered, frowning at him. “Wait a minute, at school you’re-”

“Now is not the time to talk about this,” Blu sighed, focusing on the earth around them. “Not everything’s what it seems, Bonnie- that’s all you really need to know.”

“No, wait just a fucking  _ minute,  _ Rodriguez,” he growled, yanking his arm out of Blu’s grasp. The rabbit paused and looked at him warily but Bonnie couldn’t bring himself to care. “You were marked as a Norand during the checks, your ID says you’re a Norand,  _ the school has you in Norand classes  _ but you’re a fucking dual Elemental?!”

“Bonnie,” Blu started, “now is  _ not  _ the time.”

“How?”

“I’ll explain it when we get to the cabin.”

“I want an answer, Rodriguez.”

Blu let out a frustrated breath before saying, “It’s easier to pretend you’re a Norand than it is to pretend you’re a Pazon. There’s your short answer, now come  _ on.” _

Bonnie stared down at Blu for several silent seconds, really trying to process everything that he’d just learned.

One, there was a group of people possibly hunting down Pazons, and even Pazons were part of that group.

Two, Mount Sabia was covered in caves.

Three, Bonito Rodriguez’s family owned a cabin on Mount Sabia.

And four,  _ Bonito Rodriguez was a Pazon. _

He was marked down as a Norand though. He was on a Norand career path, in Norand-exclusive extracurriculars, his ID proclaimed  _ Norand,  _ the government had a  _ Pazon  _ marked down as a  _ Norand-  _ and said Pazon did not come forth with the truth.

That made Blu a criminal.

He couldn’t understand it- why anyone would pretend to be a Norand when being a Pazon gave instant advantages in life.

“Bonnie?” Blu tried, his voice somewhat uneasy. “Stop staring at me like that.”

“They were after you,” Bonnie muttered, furrowing his brow. “They were chasing you and they put  _ inhibitor cuffs  _ on you, for  _ fuck’s sake,  _ I should have seen it,” he groaned, covering his face with his hands. “The hell, Blu?”

“Okay, yeah, they were after me,” Blu gave, “but they didn’t know I’m- that- they didn’t know. They were after me for completely unrelated reasons and you got in the crossfire. Bonnie, please, the cabin is safe- they can’t get anywhere close to it, let’s go there before we’re found, I’ll answer  _ anything  _ there, but please- fucking  _ please  _ don’t tell anyone about me.”

Bonnie looked at him, studying him carefully. The rabbit’s fur was still mussed and worry reflected in his eyes; he was obviously scared for some reason.

_ Scared that I’ll rat him out. _

Of course he’d be afraid, Bonnie realized. If it got out that he was actually a Pazon- and a trained one, judging by how effortlessly he moved the stone around them- then he would be outright arrested... and so would anyone likely to know the truth.

Like his family and friends.

With this knowledge Bonnie could effortlessly destroy Blu’s life, and that terrified Blu.

After a few seconds, Bonnie relented. He could understand, but that didn’t mean he was okay being lied to. “Fine,” he agreed, “but so help me, don’t you  _ dare  _ lie to me again.”

“I’ll explain back at the cabin,” Blu promised, visibly relieved. “It’s safe there.”

He wasn’t sure if he could really believe it. “Lead the way.”

Blu watched him for a few more seconds before nodding, turning back around and continuing to make his way through the stone. Bonnie took a calming breath before following, not sure why, exactly, he felt so angry about Blu’s lie.

_ If he lied about something as big as that, what else has he lied about? _

Bonnie gritted his teeth but didn’t say anything.  _ He does have a good reason for lying. _

_ But does he really? Think about it- if he had told the truth from the start he wouldn’t have had to lie.  _ That was true, too, and Bonnie felt very conflicted about it.  _ If he’d told the truth from the start there wouldn’t be any danger. _

He gave up arguing and just followed Blu in silence.

It seemed to be only a few minutes before the wall collapsed into open air and Blu slipped out of the newly-formed hole. Bonnie stepped out, glancing around to find that they were in a bowl-like formation; the mountain rose up on every side, tall with jagged rock walls and covered in ice and snow. There was an opening in the lowest part of the “bowl,” he noticed, but an iron-wrought fence stood tall and, undoubtedly, frozen into place across the path leading to it. His eyes caught onto what looked like cobblestone beneath the snow and followed it all the way up to the cabin.

Except it certainly looked like no cabin Bonnie had ever seen.

The cabin, made of white-oak and what looked suspiciously like stone, was at least five stories tall and built into the mountainside. Although the back of the cabin clearly pierced the mountain, the front end was supported by several stone pillars that seemed to be carved out of the mountain itself, and a staircase led up to the front porch on the third floor of the cabin. The windows were lined with darker wood, contrasting against the pale walls around it, and though Bonnie couldn’t be sure from that distance he swore that the very top floor had a balcony set into it.

“Welcome to the family cabin.”

“Family cabin?” Bonnie muttered, still too shocked to really say anything. “Blu, I don’t even know if this counts as a cabin.”  _ It’s bigger than Freddy and Goldie’s mansion, for fuck’s sake. It’s like a mountain retreat resort, or something! _

Blu just shrugged and began walking towards the towering building. “Like I said,” he started, “our church does activities here. It’s big enough to hold all three-hundred and forty-one Durmont Society members.” He looked back at Bonnie as the violet rabbit just stared at him. “My great great grandfather was the one who started it, and my grandfather finished building it. That’s why it’s my family’s cabin, though it was built for Society use.”

“I repeat,” Bonnie sighed, finally going to follow Blu towards the behemoth of a cabin, “I’m not sure this actually counts.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope y’all aren’t disappointed by my choice to describe the sex by ways of hazy confusion and physical senses. I was thinking on how to write this scene, because it actually is significant to the story (as Bonnie noted himself, if they hadn’t ended up fuckin’ they would not have spoken again after they got back home), but it isn’t necessarily significant to the characters at this point. There was no emotion to it or anything, just adrenaline and mutual attraction. They do maintain a sexual relationship throughout the story (a “well we already did it once and we’ve decided to be friends so why the hell not” mentality, I suppose) but it is rather insignificant, probably only mentioned and/or hinted in passing, in the grand scheme of things. I think the only sex scene I really feel like is important to completely detail will be when emotion comes into play- AKA when they actually do like each other and it’s not just physical attraction. Sorry, I just don’t want to put in pointless scenes that make this feel like plotless porn or some shit like that.


	6. "Sanctuary"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo not sure how many of you know this but the last few months have not been good for me. I'm hoping I'm back into the swing of things, trying to get BTM updated (It's been over a year but to be fair, I'm writing 20 chapters...), trying to get Lakeview Road updated, hoping Marina can tear herself away from ducks long enough for us to get Bunny Tech and Martial Hare updated.... so yeah.
> 
> This has been done for a while but my anxiety kept me from posting, so here we go!

The inside of the cabin was just about as cold as the outside was, but it didn’t seem to really bother Blu that much as he clicked the lock back into place. He turned to look at Bonnie, who was peering out towards the common room.

“I dunno about you,” Blu started, heading further into the cabin, “but I could really use a shower.”

“The pipes are probably frozen,” Bonnie pointed out as he went to follow Blu. The ceiling, at least on that floor, was high up, and two staircases stood on either side of the common room, each heading to the floor above. Bonnie wasn’t sure where the stairs to the floors below were but he decided not to ask.

The common room itself had about seven couches, a few against a wall and three arranged in the very center, and some lone chairs scattered about with a fireplace set into the wall. Two doors were on either side of the fireplace and Bonnie could only guess that was where the kitchen and dining room was.

All in all, the common room was huge.  _ And this isn’t even the entire floor, _ he thought, eying the doors across from the entrance. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what might be  _ inside _ the mountain.

“Does that really matter?”

Bonnie blinked and looked at Blu, whose hand was on the door to the left of the fireplace. Blu was looking over his shoulder, watching Bonnie. 

In response Bonnie shrugged. “Guess not,” he gave, moving to follow the shorter rabbit. “After all, I can just melt it and apparently so can you.”

“Yeah,” Blu agreed, pushing the door open. Bonnie glanced around, noting with some satisfaction that he was, in fact, correct; this was the kitchen. It was, unsurprisingly, large as well, equipped with shiny silver appliances, marble-topped counters, an island where Bonnie swore half a million pots, skillets and pans hung, and something that looked suspiciously a lot like a large brick oven. Right off the bat he could see three different stoves and two fridges.

_ He did say they did “church activities” here... _

“So,” he started as he followed Blu to yet another door, “care to explain what the hell’s going on, Blu?”

Blu paused, glancing at him, before pulling the door open. Bonnie managed to see a few steps leading into a smaller room. “Can it wait until after a bath?”

“First it was wait until we get to the cabin, now it’s wait until after you get your bath. At this rate you’ll never tell me,” Bonnie accused, following Blu down into the stone room- they were definitely inside the mountain, he decided as he glanced around at the rock. It was almost as though it were a basement, with what looked like a water heater and several switches attached to an electrical setup. Some boxes stacked up in the far corner supported his theory that this was some sort of basement without being an actual basement.

The shorter rabbit sighed and stopped, turning to look at him. “Okay, I’m gonna tell you something now, but the rest has to wait until after I take a bath- and no offense but you need a bath, too,” he commented, crossing his arms. Bonnie raised a brow. “I’ll tell you the rest after our baths. Okay?”

He considered it for a moment before sighing, saying, “Alright.” He lifted a hand before Blu could speak again, adding, “But don’t try and go back on your word.”

“I’m not, sheesh, not very trusting are you?”

“We’ve literally been in school together our entire lives, Blu. You’ve literally been lying to me our entire lives.”

“Well it wasn’t specifically  _ you _ but, uh, point taken.” Blu paused, frowning, before he said, “Alright, here’s something for you to consider in the meantime; the Society isn’t a religion.”

With that, Blu turned to the switch and grabbed it, pushing it up. Bonnie just stared at him.

After a moment Blu made a face. “Stop looking at me like that. Come on, I’ll show you to the bathrooms and grab you a towel,” he muttered, brushing past Bonnie quickly.

_ Not a religion? _ “Then what is it?” he asked before he could stop himself, gaze following Blu back to the stairs. Blu looked at him, a frown tugging at his lips, and Bonnie was at least a little sure he wasn’t going to answer.

A few seconds passed, and then more but neither rabbit looked away from each other. The silence seemed to stretch on forever before Blu finally said, “It’s exactly what it sounds like; a society.” 

Then he disappeared back upstairs, and all Bonnie could do was follow.

* * *

After each rabbit had had blissfully warm baths- and annoyingly enough Blu had taken half an eternity, Bonnie would swear- Blu decided to make them hot tea and then the two had settled down in the sitting room, an awkward silence settling over the two rabbits.

With a glance around the cold room Bonnie couldn’t help but notice that there were no photographs on the wall. He chose not to ask.

Several minutes passed, each rabbit sipping at their tea, before Bonnie decided he’d had enough waiting.

“So,” he started, staring at his companion. “You’re an Elemental.”

“Yep,” Blu confirmed, not even trying to deny it.

“A Dual Elemental.”

“Well... kinda,” he sighed, setting his tea down on the coffee table in front of the couch. Bonnie raised a brow, silently inviting the smaller rabbit to continue. “I do Water and Earth and Light.”

“Tri Elemental?” Bonnie could hardly believe that- it would be hard enough to hide being an Elemental at all, even harder hiding Dual Elements, but  _ three?  _

“Yeah,” Blu muttered, glancing aside. “I’m not all that good at Light, though. It’s hard.”

“How so?” he asked curiously. He didn’t know anyone who was a Light Elemental. Sure, he knew a Shadow Elemental or two, but Light- that was rare.

“Well, everything we see is Light,” Blu explained, looking back at Bonnie. “To mess with Light is to mess with perception. Without Light reflecting back, we can’t see. I can make a ball of Light just fine, sure, but the more advanced stuff... like making things completely invisible, it takes skills that I don’t have.” He sighed, leaning back and crossing his arms. 

“Make something invisible? You can do that?” Bonnie asked, surprised.

“Yeah,” he confirmed, nodding. “But it’s  _ really _ hard- you have to manipulate the Light to  _ not _ reflect off the object at all- like repelling the Light- but you have to also reflect the Light in a way that whatever’s behind it is seen. It’s like an illusion, but harder.”

“Interesting,” Bonnie mumbled to himself, glancing down at his tea. “So you’re a Tri Elemental. Any other tricks up your sleeves?” he asked, eying Blu suspiciously.

“I don’t have any Powers, if that’s what you mean,” Blu told him honestly. “I’m just an Elemental.”

Bonnie nodded slightly in understanding. “If you are I’m gonna guess it’s safe to assume more people in your, uh, Society are, too.” Blu bit his lip but did not answer. It didn’t matter, though; Bonnie could tell that he was right. “So this Society thing is actually a bunch of Pazons who got together and decided they would rebel and pretend to be Norands.”

“No!” Blu immediately denied, then flinched. “I mean, kinda. But not really!” He sighed, rubbing his forehead. “Egh, where to start...”

“The beginning is a good place.”

Blu looked at him, letting out a quiet breath. “Alright,” he agreed. “The Society of the Fledge is composed of both Elementals and non-Elementals- we don’t really consider ourselves Pazons, since that’s just a label given by the government and is not racial at all,” he added before Bonnie could even open his mouth. “Anyway, it wasn’t just one day a bunch of people decided they didn’t want to live as Pazons or whatever. It was actually started by a Fledge’s mother, several centuries ago.

“It’s common knowledge that a Fledge will be taken from their families, yeah?” He waited for Bonnie to confirm before continuing. “Well, unsurprisingly this mother decided she didn’t want to give up her child. So she decided to train her kid to ignore the call of Elements and taught her basic control so she wouldn’t mess up during the Checks. It worked, and close friends and family and people who found out through the grapevine came to her. You see, some of them were non-Elementals whose children were Elementals, and they didn’t want their children to grow up believing themselves better than their family, or their neighbors, and some just wanted to stick it to the government.” 

Blu shrugged a bit at this, adding, “My ancestors were one of the latter. According to my mom, pureblooded-Elemental great great great great grandfather fell in love with non-Elemental great great great great grandmother, and on some advice of some of her family they ran off and joined the Society. And before you ask, yes, I have non-Elemental relatives.”

Not that Bonnie had asked, but it was an interesting tidbit about the rabbit he supposed.

“Anyway,” Blu continued, “in order to hide this developing rebellion-kinda group, the Fledge’s mother decided to create the Society of the Fledge. The defining factors about this new religion was that it was made up of Norands who essentially worshipped the Fledge.” Blu made a face at this, causing Bonnie to smirk; at least the young rabbit saw how ridiculous that was. “Through generations, people actually went so far as to write a coded book that only Society members know, but to anyone looking in from the outside it looks like some ancient language passed down through the ‘church.’ The main teachings from the Society, however, is nothing to do with religion; instead we’re taught that we’re all equals, regardless of what we’re taught in school.”

“But you sacrifice the ability to enter office or protection forces by doing this,” Bonnie pointed out, setting his own tea down. “By pretending you’re nothing more than Norands you limit yourselves to things like...” he waved his hand through the air, thinking of a way to phrase it. “Like art, and science, and- and academic teaching, and stuff.”

“And by being a Pazon you limit yourself to being a servant.”

Blinking, Bonnie looked at Blu in confusion. “What? No, Pazons are the leaders of society.”

Blu just raised a brow at him. “As a Norand, I have the freedom to pursue music or writing, or science or dance, or teaching or business, or any number of other things. As a Pazon, you’ll have no choice but to enter the public service- you’ll either go into some type of leadership office like Mayor or Chancellor or something, who are, you know, there to serve the people, or you’ll become a police officer, or a firefighter, or any number of things that work to serve and protect people,  _ specifically  _ Norands.” 

Bonnie grit his teeth but didn’t get a chance to defend the system as the blue rabbit added, “Meanwhile, Norands don’t do a damn thing for you guys.” He leaned forward to look at Bonnie, his gaze intent and serious, as he finished with, “Norands might not have the freedom to lead, but we have the ability to make new discoveries and choose our own interests. Pazons, on the other hand, are stuck  _ serving _ Norands and waiting for  _ them _ to make the discoveries. And that isn’t okay.”

Bonnie wanted to argue. The system was there for a reason, after all- Norands were less capable than Pazons, of course Pazons would be the ones put in those positions. But even as he thought about it he realized Blu had a point- because Pazons weren’t given a choice, and Norands weren’t given a chance.

Leaning back again, clearly seeing he had struck a chord with Bonnie, Blu told him, “We believe everyone should have the choice to be whatever they want to be.”

“There are some things Norands just can’t do,” Bonnie replied quietly, shaking his head. “The rules are there to protect them.”

“And who protects  _ you, _ Bonnie?” Blu shot back, voice suddenly soft. “We have technology. What Norands can’t do naturally we can find ways to emulate.  Maybe the system made sense five-hundred years ago, when the most advanced weapon we had was a gun that took forty-five seconds to reload, but now we can do so much more than that.” Blu shook his head, closing his eyes briefly. “Tradition is nice and all, but change is needed, Bonnie- I don’t want to see talented Pazons get forced into politics, or charismatic Norands get pushed into art.”

“There’s just things Norands and Pazons aren’t capable of,” Bonnie argued weakly. “You’re talking as if we’re all slaves or something, but we’re  _ not.” _

Sighing, Blu stood up out of his seat and moved around the coffee table, dropping down next to Bonnie. He laid a hand on Bonnie’s shoulder, prompting the taller rabbit to look down at him into grave green eyes.

“Bonnie,” he started quietly, “tell me- are we really free if  _ what  _ we are predetermines what we  _ can be?” _ If he was expecting a response, Bonnie didn’t give him one. That didn’t stop the rabbit, though. “Pazon, Norand- that doesn’t define who we are, who we can be or what we can do... just how we can do it.” Letting out a short breath, Blu finished with, “Times are different now. We’re moving onto the future. It’s no longer a case of what Norands can or cannot do; it’s a case of how we do it. And as we become more capable, Pazons like you deserve to exercise the right to choose.” 

His hand slipped away from Bonnie’s shoulder as the shorter rabbit stood up again. Bonnie watched him quietly as he walked towards the kitchen.

“I need to call Spring to come pick us up,” Blu explained, glancing over his shoulder. “Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything to you about this.”

Bonnie couldn’t help but silently agree. The blue rabbit disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Bonnie to his thoughts.

* * *

“Oh my god, Blu, thank goodness you’re alive.”

“That’s the third time you’ve said that in the thirty seconds we’ve been on the phone,” Blu sighed, leaning against the wall. The phone cord hung limply between himself and the wall, and he wished he’d gone instead to his room where he had a cordless. 

“Yeah, well, I’m glad you’re alive,” Spring said, and Blu could practically hear his pout. “Things have been tense here- your absence alone would have been fine, but Bonnie Henderson went missing the same day as you so now people are thinking you both got kidnapped! So, uh, police are looking for you. And for him.”

“Well, we  _ were _ kidnapped.”

“I can’t help but notice you said ‘we.’”

“Yeah,” Blu sighed again, closing his eyes. “I ran into him when I was doing the Bait. They decided that while I was distracted would be the time to act, and I dunno if they took him as collateral or if this was a two birds, one stone type thing. They put us in the same cell, though, so I don’t think they know what I am.”

“Stop saying things like that when he might hear you,” Spring scolded.

“Oh, he found out.”

“What?!”

“Not everything,” Blu added more quietly, glancing towards the kitchen door. “We got trapped between some wolves and a rock wall, I had no choice. I’ve told him I’m Tri, he doesn’t know everything, but I also told him about the Society-”

_ “You what?!” _ Spring screeched.

“I didn’t have a choice,” Blu almost snapped at him. “He was suspicious after finding out about me and I’m sure you noticed I’m calling from the cabin so he was suspicious about the Society, too. He’s sworn not to tell anyone, though. I think he knows what would happen if he did.”

“I can’t believe you told an outsider about it!”

“Calm the fuck down, Spring,” he sighed, covering his face. “Besides, I felt like I owed him that much after-” he cut off, thinking of what happened in the cave not even three hours before. He could still feel the ache in his body, somewhat relieved by the hot bath he’d taken, and he’d noticed after he bathed that he now sported a rather impressive set of bitemarks on his shoulder, thankfully none so bad as to have drawn blood but still noticeable through his fur. 

Did he really want any of his friends knowing about that, he wondered?

“After what?” Spring demanded hotly, and Blu briefly imagined him with little flames on his ears. It sometimes happened when they riled him up enough- their parents always scolded him for the lack of control. 

He smiled slightly at the image, grateful for the distraction.

“After I nearly got him killed, duh.”

“Ah. Right.” Spring seemed to deflate at this response, apparently coming to understand why Blu would have answered Bonnie’s questions honestly.  _ For the most part, anyway. _ “I can’t get away tonight- my parents would notice, everyone’s on high alert right now. I’ll come get you two during school tomorrow- I’ll call in sick to the school and Shab’ll cover for me.” In the background Blu heard a distinctive, “I will?” but chose not to comment on it. “Can you stand to tolerate him for just a night?”

“Yeah, I think so,” Blu answered, not wanting to admit that Bonnie wasn’t all that bad after all. “Just be careful.”

“Same to you.”

They both hung up and Blu returned to where Bonnie was, noting that the rabbit was still sitting where he’d been left, looking distantly towards the window. “Hey, portable heater,” he called to the rabbit, and Bonnie’s attention snapped to him. He raised a brow.

“Portable heater?” he repeated, unimpressed. “Really?”

“Yes really,” Blu laughed a bit. “Spring can’t pick us up until tomorrow. He’ll probably be here around nine, nine-thirty, ten at the latest.”

“So we’re stuck here for the night.”

“Pretty much,” Blu confirmed. “So I should probably show you where we’ll be sleeping. Thankfully, being the grandson of the person who  _ built _ the house gives me a room all to myself,” he gloated a bit, heading towards the stairs.

“Wait,  _ we’ll _ be sleeping?” Bonnie parroted, quickly getting up to follow. “Why we?”

“Because it’s easier to explain my bed having been slept in than someone else’s,” Blu explained simply enough, heading up to the fifth floor. “Plus, I might be a Water Elemental but I’m not immune to the cold, and you’re a walking heat lamp.”

“Turn the heater on,” Bonnie deadpanned, glancing at the door to the room Blu led him to.

“There’s no heater,” Blu almost laughed, shaking his head as he opened his door. “It was built long before central heating was a thing.” His eyes flicked, briefly, over to the fireplace, a little stone one in the corner, that was present in every room. “We installed a water heater, sure, but we haven’t outfitted the place yet for central heating. And lighting the fireplaces isn’t a good idea if we’re hiding out here.”

The room was a decently sized room, being on the top floor; it was reserved for the owners of the building- that being Blu’s parents- and their family. Unfortunately that meant the rooms his friends had to stay in were on the lower floors while his cousins, aunts and uncles took up residence in the other top-floor rooms, but they usually remedied that by practically camping out in Blu’s room together. 

The hardwood floor had a large violet and gold rug sitting in the very center, extending under and around his bed to prevent early-morning freezer-foot. It was usually on that carpet that they piled their blankets and pillows, with the bed either vacant or occupied by small kits who wanted to be with their big brothers, but Blu often slept in the bed alone, too, or with one of his friends or siblings. Across from the bed was a wardrobe sitting between two windows, and a dresser to its left and a desk to its right. All in all it was a cozy room, and the only sign that it was a personal room was the pale-blue painted walls and lavender bedclothes.

“Cozy,” he heard Bonnie mutter, and he grinned. 

“Yeah,” he agreed before turning around to face Bonnie. “So now that this is cleared up, wanna see the “sanctuary?” It’s really cool.”

Bonnie eyed him. “You said it wasn’t a religion.”

“And it’s not a sanctuary. Come on, I’ll show you- I think you’ll like it.”

* * *

Bonnie stepped carefully, his hand brushing over what looked and felt like theater seats, through the darkness. It was darker and darker the further into the mountain they got and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that.

However, after walking for a minute or so they reached the bottom ring, several feet below the bottom row of seats, and Bonnie found himself facing a metal wall. A door was set into the wall with no knob or handle.

“Are we going through that?” he asked suspiciously, looking over at Blu. 

“Yep.”

“What are all these seats out here for?”

“Oh, you’ll see. Stay here a moment, I need to unlock it.” The rabbit turned and walked over to what looked oddly enough like a little metal building set into the wall and, pressing his hand against its wall, a door popped open. Bonnie raised a brow as Blu disappeared into the darkness inside.

He felt the electricity a few milliseconds before the room suddenly lit up, and Bonnie blinked, surprised, as his eyes adjusted to the light. Looking behind himself he saw rows upon rows of seats, as if for a stadium.

_ Stadium. _

_ We’re in a stadium. _

The room was large, the walls made of the mountain itself, and Bonnie realized quickly that it was definitely carved out by Earth Elementals. He didn’t get a chance to dwell on it, however, as the door behind him opened, and he turned back to look at it.

Right off the bat all he could see was dirt, but then Blu was going inside.

“Come on,” Blu called over his shoulder, and Bonnie could practically  _ hear _ his grin. “I think you know what this is.”

Bonnie followed Blu, unsure of how to feel about this; stepping through the door, however, felt like walking into an entirely different world.

He stopped, eyes widening as he took in his surroundings. It was an arena, just as he had suspected, and it absolutely  _ dwarfed  _ the school arena.

There were walls, which he couldn’t help but notice he could not see the seats through, reaching up to the ceiling- and the ceiling was painted to resemble a sky. A large light shone in the “sky,” simulating a sun, and it fell naturally across the landscape. Looking close enough he couldn’t help but notice the light was very subtly moving.

The landscape itself was similar to the school arena, but it was so much more; the faux mountain reached nearly to the ceiling with little streams rushing down from the top. The rocky terrain evened off several feet from the mountain into a plainsland, the streams gathering together into a creek that snaked across the landscape into what appeared to be a lake on the entire other side of the arena. 

Between the mountain and the lake the landscape dipped and rolled, with trees casting shadows from the false sun. Somehow, he noticed, there was somehow a soft breeze. Asphalt ran crossways through the arena, with a bridge over the creek and everything, and while it ran straight up to the wall- where, he noticed, was a painted scenery of a road leading to a town- there was a turn with the “road” following the river. All along the asphalt “road” were powerlines.

Rock formations, caves, what looked like a mine at the base of the mountain and what appeared to be clouds rolling across the “sky” all worked together to finish up the arena, and he did not know what to think at all.

_ A secret society did  _ this.

“This is really something else,” he heard himself say, looking around in wonder.

“It’s a contained artificial environment,” Blu told him, smiling a bit. “It runs off of a generator, so no one notices all the power used up here. It was in night mode when we came in, which is why it was so dark in here.”

“Why are the walls painted?” Bonnie couldn’t help but ask.

“They’re not,” Blu answered simply, walking over to one of the walls and rapping his knuckles against it. “Well, this bottom part is, but the sky and stuff is actually made of reinforced glass. One way. They can see us but we can’t see them, so we don’t get distracted. It also works to keep the stadium lights outside and doesn’t disrupt that,” he added, pointing towards the fake sun.

“So everything in here is maintained... all the time?” 

“Yep,” the younger confirmed. “The breeze comes from fans, though sometimes they will blow harder, and the water pump is always running so the water doesn’t sit there and stagnate. The electricity in those powerlines is only on when someone’s here, though, and the mine torch is only lit when someone is here. There’s a “rain” system, too, in the clouds. Really just sprinklers but yeah.” He paused, looking over at Bonnie. “Also, though it’s not turned on right now, the darker clouds,” Bonnie followed his gaze towards the “horizon” where grey “clouds” were settled, “produce lightning. It’s controlled, of course, only strikes the lightning rods in the ground, but everyone’s outfitted to be safe from it anyway, just in case.”

“How is any of this possible?” Bonnie questioned, looking at Blu incredulously. “The cabin doesn’t even have central heating, how-”

“Back then,” Blu interrupted with a small smile, “people performed those functions instead of machines. But like I told you earlier, Bonnie- we’ve come a long way.” He paused, as if thinking. He seemed almost unsure as he said, “The arena’s been like this for a few years now. We have the technology because we have several scientists in the Society, including my uncle and my best friend’s father. They built a lot of, well, everything in here.”

Suddenly, Blu looked out over the landscape, frowning. “We’d get in major trouble if anyone found this,” he said, not looking at Bonnie. “Not just because it’s obviously an Element Arena, but because a lot of this technology isn’t even open to public yet.”

“Which explains why you call it a sanctuary instead,” Bonnie guessed.

“And according to Society Law, outsiders who have not converted cannot enter the sanctuary,” Blu finished with a small smirk. “My dad is wanting to add an actual sanctuary area, as a faux entrance to this place, but, you know, there’s absolutely  _ no room _ with this behemoth here.”

“I can imagine,” he muttered, turning to look around the arena again. “This makes the school arena look like child’s play.”

He could feel Blu’s eyes on him so he looked over, meeting the rabbit’s quizzical gaze. “What?”

“You don’t  _ actually _ let children into the arena, do you?” he asked. 

“You don’t?” Bonnie blinked. “I mean, the arenas at the elementary schools are small and, like... really dumbed down, so.”

“Kids in the Society are taught in their own homes by other members of the Society,” Blu told him, shaking his head. “We don’t have anywhere to put a second arena, even a small one, and this arena’s too big so no one under the age of twelve is allowed in here. And when you’re under sixteen, you’re limited in what you can do and where you can go, since no one wants a kid falling into a cave or drowning in a lake.”

“Fair,” Bonnie muttered, glancing around. “So you and your friends practice in here?”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, thanks for admitting your friends are just like you.”

There was a moment of silence as Blu processed his words. “What? No! I thought you meant the Society,” he immediately tried backpedaling, but Bonnie just shook his head.

“No you didn’t.”

“That was low, Bonnie,” Blu huffed, pouting at Bonnie. The taller rabbit just smirked.

“Not my fault I’m smarter than you.”

“Smarter and sneakier are two completely different things! Now let’s go, it’s getting late and I’m tired after everything that happened today.” Abruptly the blue rabbit turned on his heel and marched out. Bonnie followed, stepping out in time to watch Blu disappear back into the little building. The door whooshed shut behind him, and then the stadium lights dimmed before going out, and soon Blu was leading him back to his bedroom.

Bonnie just followed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Blu, just go an rip Bonnie's entire worldview apart. Brilliant.


End file.
